Desmond John Headland, Jr (born 21 January 1981) is a retired

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er, Following on from his AFL career he continued on finishing his playing career for Subiaco in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

. He was also a former conservative political candidate. He plays as a half-forward flanker or

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Headland was selected with the first overall draft pick in the 1998 AFL draft by the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

. He had a 166-game

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

career, playing for Brisbane and

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

Playing career

Pre-AFL Career

Headland played junior football for Karrinyup Junior Football Club. His school football was for Lockridge Senior High School where he played alongside future Australian Football League players Garth Taylor, Brett Johnson and Dwayne Simpson. In 1997 Headland represented

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

(WA) at the under 16 national championships and won the best and fairest medal and was selected in the All-Australian team. In 1998, he represented WA in the AFL Under-18 Championships, made his league debut for

Subiaco Football Club The Subiaco Football Club, nicknamed the Lions and known before 1973 as the ''Maroons'', is an Australian rules football club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). It was founded in 1896, and admitted to the WAF ...

and won both the

(WAFL) rising star and the Subiaco best and fairest award. He also toured Ireland with the AFL/AIS Academy side. At the end of this outstanding season, Headland was selected by

with the first selection in the 1998 AFL draft. He was the first Indigenous player to be selected with the first pick in the

AFL draft The Australian Football League draft is the annual draft (sports), draft of unsigned players, especially new nominations, by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League ( ...

. In 2000, Headland was featured along with

Adam Ramanauskas Adam Ramanauskas (born 19 November 1980) is a former Australian rules footballer for the Essendon Football Club. Of Lithuanian descent, Ramanauskas was selected at no. 12 in the 1998 AFL Draft and was mainly a defender or midfielder. In 2000 ...

and

Brendan Fevola Brendan Fevola (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and radio presenter. He played with the Carlton Football Club, Carlton and Brisbane Lions football clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL). Fevol ...

in an

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

television documentary called ''The Draft'', which followed the three players in the months before they were all drafted to the AFL.

Brisbane career

Headland only played 3 games for Brisbane in 1999, making his debut in round 13 against Sydney, in which he scored 2 goals. However, he only had 3 kicks in the following game and was dropped for the next five games until being recalled in round 20. He starred in this game against his future team, kicking 3 goals in a huge win over Fremantle. 2000 saw Headland only play 2 games in the first half of the season, but he ended up playing 9 games, including both of Brisbane's final round games. He wore

guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

number 19 in these first two seasons. In 2001, Headland was given the number 1 guernsey when Richard Champion retired. After playing the first game of the season, Headland was dropped for the next two games, before being recalled and playing the remaining 19 regular season games. Poor form in the last few rounds saw him dropped for the finals series, and he missed the Brisbane Lions first premiership. This enhanced speculation about his return to Perth, but following an outstanding display for Brisbane's reserves team in the winning 2001 AFLQ State League Grand Final, he was retained for the 2002 season by Brisbane. 2002 started slowly for Headland, with his first game not until round 6, but the four goals he scored were an indication of what was to come. He would play all remaining games that year, and in a 15-game purple patch from round 11 to the end of the year he would kick 30 goals, average 21 possessions and poll 16

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

votes, including three best-on-grounds and votes in six consecutive games. This culminated in Brisbane's second premiership and, unlike 2001, Headland claimed a premiership medal.

Fremantle career

At the end of 2002, Fremantle entered the trade week with only one objective, to obtain Des Headland. A complex trade including Blake Caracella, Adam McPhee and the exchanging of numerous draft picks saw Headland return to WA and join the team whose T-shirt he had worn during interviews at the 1998 draft camp (as shown in the documentary '' The Draft''). The expectations of the Fremantle fans were high, especially when McPhee, who was traded by Fremantle to obtain Headland, won

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

selection and the Bomber's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award, the Crichton Medal in 2004. In the lead up to the 2003 AFL season Headland was chosen in an ATSIC Chairman's All-Star team that played Carlton at Marrara Oval, Darwin. The All-Star team defeated Carlton by 73 points, with Headland adjudged by ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' as best on ground. 2003 saw Headland poll Brownlow Medal votes in four games, including two best on ground performances. However, he failed to register a top-ten finish in the club best and fairest award. Leg

injuries Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with b ...

including an ankle injury during the Wizard Cup in 2004 and a calf strain in 2005 have limited his effectiveness, and he has not been able to recapture the form that he showed at Brisbane in 2002 for any sustained period of time. In Round 4, 2003, Headland was one of 7 indigenous players to represent Fremantle, the most ever to play in a single AFL team. The other indigenous players for Fremantle that day were Troy Cook, Jeff Farmer, Antoni Grover, Roger Hayden, Steven Koops and Dion Woods. This game also saw Fremantle score its highest ever score of 25.17 167 in a comprehensive defeat of the Kangaroos. In Round 8, 2003 in a match between St Kilda and Fremantle, Headland was one of four players who had been number one

selections and one of twenty-first round selections.

Statistics

: , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 3 , , 5 , , 1 , , 19 , , 10 , , 29 , , 9 , , 1 , , 1.7 , , 0.3 , , 6.3 , , 3.3 , , 9.7 , , 3.0 , , 0.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 9 , , 2 , , 6 , , 48 , , 24 , , 72 , , 22 , , 16 , , 0.2 , , 0.7 , , 5.3 , , 2.7 , , 8.0 , , 2.4 , , 1.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 20 , , 11 , , 15 , , 147 , , 51 , , 198 , , 52 , , 38 , , 0.6 , , 0.8 , , 7.4 , , 2.6 , , 9.9 , , 2.6 , , 1.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 20 , , 34 , , 24 , , 293 , , 95 , , 388 , , 139 , , 54 , , 1.7 , , 1.2 , , 14.7 , , 4.8 , , 19.4 , , 7.0 , , 2.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 22 , , 18 , , 19 , , 259 , , 89 , , 348 , , 94 , , 58 , , 0.8 , , 0.9 , , 11.8 , , 4.0 , , 15.8 , , 4.3 , , 2.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 20 , , 17 , , 9 , , 232 , , 105 , , 337 , , 77 , , 73 , , 0.9 , , 0.5 , , 11.6 , , 5.3 , , 16.9 , , 3.9 , , 3.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 15 , , 20 , , 17 , , 166 , , 61 , , 227 , , 74 , , 40 , , 1.3 , , 1.1 , , 11.1 , , 4.1 , , 15.1 , , 4.9 , , 2.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 20 , , 21 , , 12 , , 259 , , 74 , , 333 , , 104 , , 41 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 13.0 , , 3.7 , , 16.7 , , 5.2 , , 2.1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 17 , , 25 , , 15 , , 213 , , 88 , , 301 , , 73 , , 34 , , 1.5 , , 0.9 , , 12.5 , , 5.2 , , 17.7 , , 4.3 , , 2.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 6 , , 4 , , 4 , , 55 , , 30 , , 85 , , 19 , , 16 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 9.2 , , 5.0 , , 14.2 , , 3.2 , , 2.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 9 , , 13 , , 8 , , 99 , , 38 , , 137 , , 57 , , 26 , , 1.4 , , 0.9 , , 11.0 , , 4.2 , , 15.2 , , 6.3 , , 0.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 5 , , 7 , , 2 , , 35 , , 12 , , 47 , , 16 , , 8 , , 1.4 , , 0.4 , , 7.0 , , 2.4 , , 9.4 , , 3.2 , , 1.6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 166 ! 177 ! 132 ! 1825 ! 677 ! 2502 ! 736 ! 405 ! 1.1 ! 0.8 ! 11.0 ! 4.1 ! 15.1 ! 4.4 ! 2.4

Return to Subiaco

After retiring from Fremantle in 2010. Headland rejoined his former WAFL team Subiaco for the 2011 WAFL season.

Political career

Headland was selected in July 2013 as a candidate for the

Palmer United Party The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is an Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party was deregistered by ...

for the Federal seat of Durack. This is a conservative party formed by Australian mining businessman

Clive Palmer Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian billionaire businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, t ...

in April 2013. Headland announced his candidacy only one day after he had told a West Australian paper that "I've had one conversation which has sparked a bit of interest... I haven't had a big think about it or spoken to my family. There's nothing set in stone or anything yet, but who knows. I'm only a 32-year-old and still learning my way and it was just a quick phone call to say G'day."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Headland, Des 1981 births Living people Fremantle Football Club players Brisbane Lions players Brisbane Lions premiership players Subiaco Football Club players United Australia Party (2013) politicians Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football 21st-century Indigenous Australian people Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Southern Districts Football Club players South Fremantle Football Club players Peel Thunder Football Club players VFL/AFL premiership players