Chris Heffernan

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Chris Joel Heffernan (born January 29, 1979) is an Australian rules footballer.

Beginning 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 an amazing 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, and moved from Essendon to the Melbourne Football Club at the end of 2002. He looked like he would be a solid acquisition by the Demons with Heffernan having great recent form under his belt.

However, that wasn't the case, and in what was then viewed as another "win" for Kevin Sheedy's brilliant record of trading players and getting value for his trades, Heffernan didn't have the same spark at Melbourne. In 2004 he had a solid year 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 2005 AFL Pre-season Draft. In this deal, Essendon picked up a player that they had already won on in the 2002 trade for next to nothing.

Heffernan believes he has returned to his spiritual home and expects to improve his football in 2006.