Des Healey

Who was Des Healey?

Des Healey was an Australian rules footballer, who played in the VFL/AFL with the Collingwood Football Club.

After spending 3 years in the reserves team, Healey finally broke into the senior side in 1948. He played every game in 1948 and missed only one in 1949 when he won interstate selection.

The combination of Healey, Thorold Merrett and Bill Twomey, Jr., gave Collingwood a lethal centre line. Healey was a great mark for his size and dazzled the crowd with his evasive ground work and polished skills. He always had great control of the ball and was the master of the pinpoint pass.

Healey was one of the heroes of Collingwood’s 1953 Premiership victory and was rated by many as one of the best players on the ground that day. He won All-Australian selection in the same year.

Essendon’s great full-forward John Coleman once named Healey as the best wingman he had ever seen. “He is clever, has that wonderful tenacity of all good Collingwood players, and is tireless.”

Healey is perhaps best known for his last moments as a League footballer. In the 1955 Grand Final Healey had a sickening collision with Melbourne’s Frank 'Bluey' Adams. They were both stretched off with Healey’s nose broken in five places and his skull fractured, he never played League football again.