So who is Mathew Inness?

Dr. Mathew Inness was today announced as Essendon's new Head of High Performance and Medical following an extensive search process.

Matt is no stranger to the Essendon community, hailing from Broadford in country Victoria, he went on to open the bowling for Essendon Cricket Club, in a twist of fate, partnered at the other end by Craig Jones (father of Harry Jones). A left-arm swing bowler, he went on to play 81 First Class matches for Victoria and Western Australia, taking 281 at 25.7 a piece.

As a youngster, running the Windy Hill scoreboard, watching Matt and Craig steam in were among my favourite childhood memories and they were both among my early cricketing heroes. Matt was quiet off the field, but professional, respectful and had a tireless worth ethic that saw him extract every ounce out of himself as a professional cricketer.

Photo Credit: Code Sports

Whilst playing for WA, he completed his Masters in Exercise Science and that ultimately saw him transition into a Strength and Conditioning role at WA Cricket after his cricketing career.

Following a move back to Melbourne, he became the High Performance Manager at Williamstown Football Club in the VFL, and completed a PHD (hence the Doctor title) in Sports Science. He has since added an MBA to his list of degrees.

From Williamstown he moved into the Western Bulldogs VFL team as Strength and Conditioning Coach, before being promoted into the AFL teams program a year later and one year on from that promoted to the Head of Sport Science and Physical Performance role at the Dogs, ahead of the 2016 preseason. The Dogs went on to win the Premiership 12 months on from Matt being promoted into the 'Head of' role.

All up, he spent 10 years at the Western Bulldogs, through a very successful period for the club, including two Grand Finals. Matt transitioned across to the West Coast Eagles at the end of 2023, inheriting an injury list not to dissimilar to the one that confronts him at Essendon at the moment. Thanks to Mike Read who shared this snapshot in Don The Stat Patreon. The transformation of West Coast's injury list in July 2023 (prior to Inness joining) to July 2025 is remarkable and should give Dons fans and player hope that we have the right man on board to help us forward. A quick scan of Social Media will tell you West Coast fans are pretty disappointed to lose him. Everyone you speak to about Mathew Inness, tells you about what a high quality person he is. You can never have too many of them at your footy club. Good luck Matt and welcome back to Essendon.

Image Credit: Mike Read