Isaac Heeney (born 5 May 1996) is a professional

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 playing with the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

in the

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 ...

Early life

Heeney was born in

Maitland, New South Wales Maitland () is a city in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River, New South Wales, Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle, New S ...

, to mother Rochelle and father Adam. He grew up in the

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River (New Sout ...

. He received primary level education at Black Hill Public School in Black Hill. He then attended All Saints College. He began playing soccer at the age of 7 and managed to kick 68 goals in 12 games. Shortly after he picked up a cricket bat and played an age level above his own. He had a batting average of 216. He also travelled with his school to compete in a Sydney rugby league tournament and scored 5 tries in his team's grand final victory. Heeney played his junior football for th
Cardiff Hawks
in the Black Diamond Australian Football League. A highly rated junior player, he joined the Sydney Swans' Academy at the age of 12 years. He moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

for his draft year, completing his final year of school at Waverley College; he lived with a host family in South Coogee and played in the NEAFL for the Swans reserves team. Heeney later revealed he was the only student throughout his entire schooling that played Australian rules football and would have quit in favour of rugby league had the Swans' academy not existed. He grew up supporting the Swans and idolised

Ryan O'Keefe Ryan O'Keefe (born 24 January 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer with the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL), and was part of the Swans' 2005 and 2012 premiership-winning sides. O'Keefe was a member o ...

as a child. Heeney is also an avid fan of the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

, and supports the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

club.

AFL career

Heeney was selected by the Swans in the

2014 AFL draft The 2014 AFL draft consists of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2014 AFL season. Additions to each club's playing list are not allowed ...

. His selection was controversial in that the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

bid their first selection, number 2 overall, for Heeney but under drafting rules at the time, the Swans were able to match with their first selection, which was 18th overall. As a result of this, and the similar round based bidding process used for

father–son rule The father–son rule is a rule that allows clubs preferential recruiting access to the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the club in Australian rules football, most notably in the Australian Football League. The rule ...

selections, the draft criteria were changed to a points based system to provide for a more equitable outcome. Heeney made his debut for Sydney at

ANZ Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

against

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

in Round 1 of the 2015 season. He kicked his first AFL goal, which was also the match-winning goal and last in the match, late in the final quarter as the Swans came from 41 points down in the third quarter to win by 12 points. Following a 4-goal performance at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

in round 3, Heeney picked up an

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Bu ...

nomination as the Swans got off to an unbeaten start in the 2015 season. After a promising start to his season, Heeney suffered a knee injury in Round 6. He returned to the team in Round 17, kicking 2 goals and having an instant impact on the team. Heeney played out the remainder of the season, including in the team's finals games. He was named as the Sydney Swans' rising star after kicking 16 goals and averaging 12.6 disposals. Heeney had a successful

2016 AFL season The 2016 AFL season was the 120th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eig ...

, playing every game except for rounds 16 and 17. Heeney set a new personal record for disposals in the opening round, collecting 23. He had a breakout game in Round 4, kicking 4 important goals and collecting 18 disposals, being named as one of Sydney's best on ground. He had one of the best games in his career in Round 7, where he kicked a bag of 5, his highest goal tally to that point. He received 3 Brownlow votes for his performance. Heeney suffered a season ending injury in the Swans' 8 point loss to in the 6th round of the

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

, after dislocating and rupturing his medial ligament in his right ankle. He had surgery soon after which kept him confined to a moon boot for a few weeks after the completion of the surgery. He also underwent stem cell treatment to help with the healing of his cartilage that had been removed during the operation.

2024 Season

After a fantastic start to the season, Heeney was considered a favourite for the

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 ...

but was then controversially suspended. Some thought he may poll the most votes and be an ineligible winner, but he finished in equal fourth.

Qualifying Final mark

In GWS's 2024 qualifying final against Sydney, Heeney took what many to be considered Mark of the Year with a high-flying

specky A spectacular mark (also known as a specky, speckie, speccy, screamer or hanger) is a mark (Australian rules football), mark (or catch) in Australian rules football that typically involves a player jumping up on the back of another player. The ...

over Jack Buckley, although Heeney was ineligible for the award due to it being in a finals match, a fact that attracted criticism in the press. In any case, Buckley received widespread respect and acclaim for his act of

sportsmanship Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, and with proper consideration for wikt:fairness, fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors. A "sore loser" r ...

for holding Heeney's hand to ensure his fall was safe, as Heeney was otherwise falling head-first and could have suffered a severe injury had Buckley not intervened. Among the many that praised Buckley's quick thinking, Heeney's own mother public thanked Buckley on Facebook.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of the 2022 season''. , - ,

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

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Honours and achievements

Team *

Minor Premiership A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues. Origins The etymolo ...

():

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football club championship trophy, awarded each year to the club with the best aggregate performance across the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) seasons. The trophy was inaugur ...

(

Individual *

Bob Skilton Medal The Bob Skilton Medal is an annual Australian rules football award presented to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the Sydney Swans (formerly the South Melbourne Football Club) throughout the Victorian Football League/Australian Foot ...

: 2024 *

All-Australian team 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 ...

* 2× 22under22 team: 2017, 2018 * AFL Mark of the Year: 2018 * AFLPA Best First Year Player: 2015 * AFLCA Best Young Player: 2016 * AFL Rising Star nominee: 2015 (round 3) * 3x Goodes-O'Loughlin Medal: 2018, 2021, 2025

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heeney, Isaac 1996 births Sydney Swans players Australian rules footballers from New South Wales NSW/ACT Rams players Living people Sportspeople from Newcastle, New South Wales People educated at Waverley College All-Australians (AFL) 21st-century Australian sportsmen