(93rd Eagles player)
A highly capable full-forward, Jason Heatley achieved great success at St Kilda after being stuck behind Peter Sumich at West Coast in the mid-1990s.
West Coast career[]
Originally from North Heidelberg in Melbourne's north, Jason Heatley was a prolific goalkicker in the WAFL, winning the Bernie Naylor medal with Subiaco in 1993 before being drafted by West Coast.
Unfortunately for him, during the three years he spent on the Eagles list the club had another full-forward by the name of Sumich. As a result, Heatley spent the vast majority of those three years in the WAFL, where he managed to win a second Bernie Naylor medal in 1995.
He broke through for one senior game in 1995 and two more late in 1996, but ultimately couldn’t command a regular spot and was delisted at the end of the 1996.
St Kilda career[]
After being delisted Heatley was picked up in the national draft by St Kilda, where he went on to have considerably more success. In his first season he finished third in the league behind only Tony Modra and Sav Rocca in goalkicking, and spearheaded the Saints to the grand final. He ended up playing 60 games and kicking 163 games for St Kilda between 1997 and 2000.
Post-AFL career[]
Heatley played a season at his old suburban club, North Heidelberg, and a couple of years with the Tassie Devils in the Victorian Football League. He then moved into coaching, spending time at the helm of Warrnambool. In 2012 he took the senior coaching job with Northcote Park in the Northern Football League in suburban Melbourne, where he coached the Cougars to an immediate flag before stepping down after three seasons in the role.
Stats[]
| AFL | Gm | G | B | K | M | H | D | T | WAFL | Gm | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 0 | Subi | 18 | 81 | ||||||||
| 1995 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 22 | 123 | ||
| 1996 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 19 | 4 | 12 | 55 | ||
| Tot | 3 | 8 | 5 | 18 | 7 | 6 | 24 | 4 | ||||
| Avg | 2.7 | 6.0 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 8.0 | 1.3 |
Links[]
http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/J/Jason_Heatley.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Heatley
http://www.wafl.com.au/players/view/1538
Tim Mitchell, Northcote Leader (30 July 2014), "Northcote Park’s premiership-winning coach Jason Heatley to step aside at end of Northern Football League season": http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/inner-east/sport/northcote-parks-premiershipwinning-coach-jason-heatley-to-step-aside-at-end-of-northern-football-league-season/news-story/d6d9802482e0467712453fcb96484ab0