By Marcus Uhe
Restoring Dandenong Cricket Club to its status as one of the top clubs in the State is among the main priorities for new coach Tom Donnell.
The decorated batter takes the reins as head coach for two seasons beginning in 2023/24, having filled the vacancy created by Warren Ayres’ departure – coming off a poor campaign for the Panthers in which they won just twice and finished 16th.
Donnell, a life member and premiership player for the Panthers in 2010-11 and 2017-18, has seen a lot during his time at Shepley Oval, having played alongside emerging international-calibre talents in Peter Siddle and James Pattinson, and batted plenty of innings with club captain and star of the competition, Brett Forsyth.
Reflecting on his development years at the club, the 36-year-old sees blending a younger generation with the senior players as the key to their future.
“You always need to try and blood young players,” Donnell said.
“Even when myself and Brett were coming through, we were young and still getting opportunities to play, but we had to earn those opportunities because the side was really good.
“We want to build that up again.
“I think you want to find the happy medium of playing the young guys but also building the winning environment.
“You don’t get any draft picks or any advantage for finishing last, and it can be a bit of a detriment to the club if you’re down the bottom and not winning as much.
“Hopefully in the next few years we can get back up to playing finals and find some young guys that can come through and push the club forward.”
Yet to come to a decision on his playing future, Donnell wants the club to be somewhere the playing group can come to enjoy their cricket, having experienced a rough 2022/23 campaign.
“When you are losing more than winning, it’s always harder to stay motivated and to keep doing the little things right,” he said.
“Hopefully we can bring that enjoyment back and it can lead to a few more wins, and we can get going on the way up again.
“It (the club) has been so good to me and I’ve been so lucky that I played in an era where they’ve produced so many great players and I’ve been lucky enough to play around them.
“Hopefully we can sort of build our own legacy in the next generation and get some younger players coming through and doing their thing.
“I think it’s really important to keep that up and continue that on, to keep progressing the club forward.”
