Gerard Healy

Infobox afl player


firstname = Gerard
lastname = Healy


| birthdate = Birth date and age|1961|3|1|df=y
school = St Bede's College in Mentone
birthplace =
originalteam = Edithvale-Aspendale
dead = alive
deathdate =
deathplace =
debutdate = 1979
debutteam = Melbourne
debutopponent =
debutstadium = ?
playingteams = Melbourne (1979 - 1985)121 games, 188 goals

Sydney (1986 - 1990)
104 games, 110 goals
coach = notcoach
coachingteams =
statsend = 1990
careerhighlights =

*Melbourne Best and Fairest 1984
*Sydney Swans Best and Fairest 1986-1988
*Brownlow Medal winner 1988
*Leigh Matthews Trophy winner 1988
*All-Australian 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988

Gerard Healy, (born 1 March 1961) is a former Australian rules footballer and commentator. [cite web
url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/19/1074360697670.html
title=Station shocked as one of its 'family' is the story - www.theage.com.au
publisher=theage.com.au
accessdate=2008-03-29
last=
first=]

Gerard Healy attended St Bede's College in Mentone , where he was the Senior Football Captain.

VFL career

Melbourne Demons

Beginning his career with the Melbourne Football Club in 1979, Healy played mostly in a forward pocket role in attack before switching to an on-baller/midfielder role and establishing himself as one of the premier ball winners in the competition. He won Melbourne's Best and Fairest award in 1984 in his last season with the Demons.

ydney Swans

He left the Demons in 1985, after playing 121 games, moving to the Sydney Swans at the beginning of the 1986 season. He immediately made an impact at the Swans, winning Best and Fairests in his first three years with the team - 1986, 1987, 1988. He also took home the Brownlow Medal in 1988 as the VFL's Fairest and Best player, and was also named the VFL Players Association MVP in the same year. He retired from Sydney in 1991. He was renowned as one of Sydney's greats, being named in their Team of the Century. Collingwood picked up Healy in the 1991 Pre-Season Draft, but Healy never played a game as he was retired.

In 2000 Healy was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Commentating career

After retiring, Healy became an Australian rules football commentator, first with the Seven Network on their AFL coverage.

On radio, he has also been a long-time special comments man on 3AW in their AFL coverage, as well as hosting "Sports Today". He gave a heartfelt farewell message on the show to his co-host David Hookes after his passing in 2004. Hookes was later replaced on the show by Dwayne Russell.

His audio commentary also has also been sampled for computer games such as AFL 2007 along with Dennis Cometti.

Healy worked as a special commentator (or game analyst) for Fox Footy from 2002 until its closure in 2006 as well as hosting "On the Couch". He continued his commentary role for AFL matches with Fox Sports from 2007.

References