Copyright news
The Swans forward spilled the beans during an ‘Ask Me Anything’ chat with news.com.au’s From the Newsroom podcast, which you can watch in the video player at the top of this article. When asked about the wildest DM he’d been sent, the three-time All Australian giggled as he said, “It was, ‘can I post them my jocks after a game, before washing them’.” Heeney’s underwear also got a mention when asked if he had any match day superstitions during the season. “I’ve got these sports jocks and I wear one pair all season,” he said. “The last one (season), they hung on, but the last two games I was playing with a hole in the bottom of them.” Not surprisingly, Heeney had a bit of a wardrobe disaster during one of the games. “They fell out of my jocks,” he said, seemingly referring to his … well … I’m sure you can guess. Luckily, Heeney said, the embarrassing slip wasn’t caught on camera. Hollywood superstar’s visit to the club In March 2023, American actress Sydney Sweeney dropped into the Swans’ rooms after one of their home games. Most of the players managed to get a selfie with her, but not Heeney. “We had a good win … but by the time I went off I had this lump on my head … from a head-on-head collision,” he recalled. “It was enormous. It was like a second head!” The reigning club champion said he was too embarrassed by his injury to ask Sweeney for a photo. “I couldn’t bring myself to do it,” he said. Heeney said his teammates were delighted to get up close and personal with the actress, saying, “I think 50 per cent of the club hit her up in the DMs on insta (after her visit),” he laughed. Swans star returns to his old club Back in July, Heeney, who is a Telstra ambassador, paid a special visit to his old footy club in Newcastle, the Cardiff Hawks. The team had recently received a Telstra Footy Grant, which gives community clubs across Australia the chance to access up to $20,000 for everything from staff training to facility upgrades. “They had a death in 2024 that really rocked the club,” Heeney explained, adding that the Hawks planned to use the grant to fund mental health first aid training. In addition to the grant, Telstra also organised for Heeney and his Swans teammate Brodie Grundy to run a one-off session at the club alongside representatives from Lifeline Australia, aiming to lift spirits and start conversations about mental health. “It was amazing to get back there,” he said. “Even if we just put a smile on some of the kids’ faces, that’s our job done. But at the same time … we could push some knowledge onto them and they could learn about mental health.” Other fun stories Heeney revealed plenty of other titbits during his interview with news.com.au, including which country song he listens to before every game, why some players refuse to get their gear off in the showers, the time his teammates pranked him with bean bag filler, and how he really felt about losing pals Will Hayward and Ollie Florent as part of the Charlie Curnow trade deal. To hear all of those bits and more, watch the video at the top of this article.
