A flag will crown Heeney as Sydney’s greatest sportsperson

The Paralympics are over, the sporting world has been moved on but even Isaac Heeney’s heroics at the SCG resonated in Paris.

Isaac Heeney kicks during the AFL Qualifying Final between the Sydney Swans and GWS Giants Picture: Phil Hillyard

You witness a weekend of Paralympians winning gold medals with no arms, one arm and two legs, two arms and one leg, one leg longer than the other leg, the other leg shorter than it could be, half an arm, half their luck, no legs, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability. On Monday morning the inbox’s messages run to a common theme.

How good is Isaac Heeney?!

The big, bold, bonzer and brilliant world of sport rolls on. The Paralympics step aside for the football finals back home. I didn’t watch the Sydney Swans escape from the straitjacket of a 28-point deficit against GWS Giants but I received so much correspondence about their win, and the atmosphere at that Mona Lisa of a venue, the Sydney Cricket Ground, and Heeney’s stonker of a performance, that I watched a replay under the domed roof of Charles de Gaulle Airport.

For starters, what a fantastic sea of red and white in the stands. What a joint. You can have Stade de France. Give me a pew at the SCG for footy, cricket, tiddlywinks, whatever’s up next. The crowd was so loud and constant it sounded like the fake roars of TV broadcasts during the pandemic. There was some biffo, or as close as players are allowed to go, before Heeney’s first major contribution: a one-handed grab when the Swans were down by 27 points.

He lined up the goal with the studiousness and meticulousness of Qian Yang serving at the Paralympic table tennis. He glared at the ball from side-on, inspecting it, studying it, perhaps hypnotising it. He raised an eyebrow, crouched, imparting curve and spin. His goal gave the Swans a bit of hope and the masses a lot of voice.

Then came his hanger. Which brought to mind a staggering fact about the Paralympics. Certain competitors fated to contest the 2032 Brisbane Paralympics don’t know it yet. Because they’re not disabled yet. People are going to have catastrophic accidents that put them in a wheelchair in the next few years, and a selection will become Paralympians. The queen of the Australian team, Lauren Parker, only became paraplegic seven years ago. The princess of the squad, Alexa Leary, suffered brain damage and compromised physicality as recently as 2021.Curtis McGrath made his Paralympic debut just four years after losing his legs in Afghanistan.

Point being, somewhere out there right now are able-bodied Australians who will have their own life-changing incidents. Invariably, it’s from an innocuous act, more innocuous than Heeney’s hanger of all hangers.

He went up and at ‘em. Up there Cazaly. And threatened to land smack-bang on his head. It’s no laughing matter. Ex-Australian wheelchair rugby player Naz Erdem became quadriplegic from a less dangerous act. Trying to impress some good sorts at one of Melbourne’s so-called beaches, Erdem took a flamboyant dive off a pier. Landed headfirst in shallow water. Hit the sandbank. Never walked again. One of this year’s Steelers, James McQuillan, broke his neck playing Australian rules at Albury Wodonga. He put his head over the ball in general play, it collided with an opponent’s leg and his C5 vertebrae was shattered. That’s how quickly these things can happen.

Isaac Heeney’s launches a long-range goal to level the scores in the dying minutes of the game against GWS Picture: Phil Hillyard

Heeney was more vulnerable than Erdem or McQuillan when he took his breathtaking mark and appeared set to land headfirst on the hard and hallowed turf from about six feet. He flipped and landed on his back, helped by the Giants’ Jack Buckley grabbing him by the wrist and assisting his tumble turn. Perhaps I’m being alarmist after hearing umpteen horror stories at the Paralympics; perhaps Heeney got lucky in more ways than one.

Heeney’s one-arm grab lifted the Swans when they were seemingly down and out Picture: Getty Images

Anyway, hurrah for the hanger. He finished with three goals, 30 disposals and seven clearances, developing that glazed, imperious, eye-of-the-tiger expression athletes get when they’re having a bit of an out-of-body experience. When they’re in the zone. When they can do no wrong. The Swans faithful had goosebumps the size of Sherrins, and so did Heeney, but still the red-and-whites trailed by 20 points for the final term.

A win, even on replay, seemed implausible. As the moustachioed French bloke from the airline answered when I asked about an upgrade on my flight, “Impossible!” Papley’s next goal from 52m travelled about 45m on skill and the rest on willpower. Chad Warner’s contribution brought the deficit to single figures. And then came the real zinger, the play of the day. Heeney’s final goal was better than his hanger. The moment I understood the reason for all the emails, including the one headlined, “Attention, s’il vous plait! Did you see Isaac Heeney!”.

GWS’s Jack Buckley assists Isaac Heeney to the ground after the Swans star took a miraculous mark Picture: Getty Images

Isaac Heeney celebrates his long-range goal to lock up the scores Picture: Getty Images

Papley won a ball he had no right to. Punched it over his left shoulder to Heeney, running like a theme, moving so quickly his feet didn’t touch the ground. From 65m he punched a kick that reacted so favourably Shane Warne might have bowled it. One bounce for a major, s’il vous plait, and the scores were level. Their supporters were going ballistic. Down by 28 points in the third quarter, and 13 points with eight minutes left, they won. One of the great sights and sounds is when diehards pay their cash for a ticket or membership and get their money’s worth – before bombarding a journo with messages along the lines of, how good is Isaac Heeney?!

One bloke suggested the 28-year-old is Sydney’s finest sportsperson. Well, he’s in the club. Pat Cummins goes all right as Test cricket captain. So does Alyssa Healy, come to think of it. Heeney hasn’t won three Olympic canoeing gold medals, as far as I can recall, but Jess Fox has. He hasn’t won an AFL grand final; Nathan Cleary has three in the NRL. If you’re only as good as your last game, Heeney is pretty bloody great, but he needs to win a flag for the Swans to be placed on the very top shelf of sporting Sydneysiders.