Des Headland

Desmond John Headland, Jr (born 21 January 1981) is a retired Australian rules footballer, Following on from his AFL career he continued on finishing his playing career for Subiaco in the West Australian Football League. He was also a former conservative political candidate. He plays as a half-forward flanker or midfielder. Headland was selected with the first overall draft pick in the 1998 AFL draft by the Brisbane Lions. He had a 166-game Australian Football League career, playing for Brisbane and Fremantle. 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 (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 and won both the West Australian Football League (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 Brisbane Lions with the first selection in the 1998 AFL draft. In 2000, he was featured along with Adam Ramanauskas and Brendan Fevola in an Australian Broadcasting Corporation television documentary called The Draft, which followed the three players in the months before they were all drafted to the AFL.