By Colin MacGillivray
BROADFORD cricket legend Mathew Inness were among the first inductees into Essendon Cricket Club’s hall of fame earlier this month.
The Bombers celebrated their 150th anniversary by naming 10 former players as part of an inaugural hall of fame class at a dinner at the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s Olympic Room on February 4.
Inness had a decorated cricket career, debuting for Essendon in Victorian Premier Cricket at age 14, representing Australia at under-19 level and making his first-class debut for Victoria in 1997.
His parents Kevin and Margrette are well known Broadford residents.
The left-arm fast bowler took 281 first class wickets playing for Victoria, and later Western Australia and Northamptonshire, along with 207 wickets in 102 games for Essendon at an average of 16.54.
Retiring from cricket at the age of 30 in 2008, Inness turned his hand to coaching.
He became the strength and conditioning coach of Western Australia’s cricket team before returning to Victoria in 2014 and joining the Western Bulldogs as their VFL high-performance manager, later becoming the team’s head of sport science and physical performance.
Inness said he had returned to Essendon Cricket Club this season as a bowling coach and enjoyed renewing ties at the Bombers.
He said he was ‘honoured’ to be among the first players inducted into Essendon’s hall of fame.
“To be part of the first [group of inductees] makes it special, especially with it being on the 150th anniversary,” he said.
“It’s been a long time since I played there – probably 15 or 20 years – but you remember the people you played with and the mates you made.
“It was good to see some people who I hadn’t seen since a few of us went down from Broadford 30 years ago … [and some] I hadn’t seen since I left for Perth about 17 years ago.
“I also got to meet some of the guys you would hear about who played previously to me.”
Inness, who played in a losing grand final side for Essendon, said he sometimes rued missed opportunities from his career, but the ceremony had helped him recall some of the many highlights.
“When you haven’t played in that long, you start to forget about your playing career a bit. You sometimes tend to think about things you haven’t achieved, rather than things you have,” he said.
“It’s good to look back and recognise the things you’ve done, because in your mind you might think ‘I never played for Australia’, or, ‘I was never part of a premiership at Essendon’.
“It was good to have recognition for the things I did do. You have to remember the highlights, not just the times things didn’t go your way.”
Former Assumption College Kilmore boarder Simon O’Donnell, who excelled in both football and cricket at the college when he was a boarder in the 1980s and went on to play Test cricket for Australia, was also inducted into Essendon’s hall of fame.
