Chris Heffernan

Chris Joel Heffernan (born 29 January 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Chris Heffernan
Personal information
Full name	Chris Joel Heffernan
Nickname(s)	The Heff
Date of birth	(1979-01-29) 29 January 1979
Original team(s)	[Terang Bloods]
Draft	2nd overall, 1996 AFL Draft
Height	186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	83 kg (183 lb)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1997–2002	Essendon	97 (38)
2003–2005	Melbourne	47 (10)
2006–2007	Essendon	26 (8)
Total		170 (56)
International team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
2000	Australia	2 (0)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2007. ^2 State and international statistics correct as of 2000.
Career highlights
AFL Premiership 2000 International Rules Series 2000
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

AFL career

Known affectionately as "The Big Heffa", Chris began his career in 1997 with the Essendon Football Club. Heffernan had a brilliant year in 2000 when he played solid consistent football in the midfield and was part of the Bombers side that lost only one game for the entire season, winning the AFL Grand Final and Ansett Cup Final in the process. Heffernan was also rewarded with an appearance in the International rules series in 2000. Heffernan also played in another AFL Grand Final (albeit a losing one) in 2001.

However, when Essendon ran into salary cap issues at the end of the 2002 season, he was traded to the Melbourne Football Club for a swap of first round draft selections.[1][2]

His trade to Melbourne only months after signing a three-year contract with Essendon, prompted the AFL Players Association to introduce the Heffernan Clause into the players standard collective bargaining agreement, to prevent players from being traded within 12 months of signing a contract.[3]

Heffernan did not have the same spark at Melbourne. He finished the 2003 with a depressed fracture of his cheekbone[4] and had a solid year in 2004 before getting suspended and missing the finals at the end of the season, but in 2005 his performances were average. At the end of 2005 Melbourne delisted Heffernan, but Essendon picked him up with the last pick in the 2006 AFL preseason draft.[5]

Heffernan played out the rest of his career with the Bombers, before announcing his retirement from AFL football on 2 October 2007 after being told that he was unlikely to play often under new coach Matthew Knights.[6][7]

In 2020, Heffernan released his Autobiography "Heffernan: More than meets the eye". The book was poorly received, with very limited sales thought to be mostly family and friends.

Personal life

After retiring from football he worked in New York for Deutsche Bank for three years before returning to Melbourne to work for Ernst and Young. In 2011 he joined the Essendon Football Club board as a non-executive director.[8]

Playing Statistics

[9]

Legend

G

Goals

B

Behinds

K

Kicks

H

Handballs

D

Disposals

M

Marks

T

Tackles

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
1997	Essendon	26	3	0	0	11	9	20	4	5	0.0	0.0	3.7	3.0	6.7	1.3	1.7
1998	Essendon	26	12	3	0	71	53	124	12	31	0.3	0.0	5.9	4.4	10.3	1.0	2.6
1999	Essendon	26	22	13	4	226	119	345	60	41	0.6	0.2	10.3	5.4	15.7	2.7	1.9
2000	Essendon	26	21	4	6	194	115	309	54	67	0.2	0.3	9.2	5.5	14.7	2.6	3.2
2001	Essendon	26	16	6	5	110	69	179	36	33	0.4	0.3	6.9	4.3	11.2	2.3	2.1
2002	Essendon	26	23	12	4	195	101	296	58	64	0.5	0.2	8.5	4.4	12.9	2.5	2.8
2003	Melbourne	1	20	7	4	188	115	303	60	61	0.4	0.2	9.4	5.8	15.2	3.0	3.1
2004	Melbourne	1	18	2	4	165	119	284	44	71	0.1	0.2	9.2	6.6	15.8	2.4	3.9
2005	Melbourne	1	9	1	3	45	35	80	20	28	0.1	0.3	5.0	3.9	8.9	2.2	3.1
2006	Essendon	26	19	6	4	154	147	301	66	72	0.3	0.2	8.1	7.7	15.8	3.5	3.8
2007	Essendon	26	7	2	0	42	42	84	16	26	0.3	0.0	6.0	6.0	12.0	2.3	3.7
Career			170	56	34	1401	924	2325	430	499	0.3	0.2	8.2	5.4	13.7	2.5	2.9

References

1. Niall, Jake (8 June 2003). "Expect to see more big players in the market". The Age. Melbourne.
2. Quayle, Emma (31 January 2003). "Heffernan slowly being demonised By". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
3. Rielly, Stephen (2 July 2003). "Heffernan clause might not last long". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
4. Rielly, Stephen (15 August 2003). "Ex-Don a Demon for punishment". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
5. Spits, Scott (9 March 2006). "Next Goal inspires Heffernan".
6. "Heffernan ends Bombers career". Retrieved 29 October 2012.
7. "Heffernan, Camporeale retire from AFL". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 October 2007. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
8. "Directors". Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
9. Chris Heffernan's player profile at AFL Tables

External links

• Chris Heffernan's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Profile at Essendonfc.com.au