Elsie Lange
“He always left a lasting impression.”
That’s how many people, including his ex-brother-in-law Rodney Callahan, will remember Shane Warne.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a person in Australia who wasn’t shocked by the sudden, tragic death of one of the greatest spin-bowlers of all time at age 52, on March 4.
Warne’s death has sent shockwaves through communities of cricket lovers including in Melbourne’s north-west.
On the field, he was a champion, a marvel of a sportsperson to behold with the larrikin charisma of the every-man people laughed with and at, charmed or appalled, captivated all the same.
Warne took 708 wickets in 145 test matches, including 37 five-wicket hauls, and had a top score of 99.
Following retirement in 2013, Warne began commentating, where he continued to sway eyeballs to screens.
Callahan, curator at Keilor Cricket Club, described how Warne supported his club through the years and was happy to lend a hand. Callahan is the brother of Simone Callahan, Warne’s ex-wife.
“Shane was always very generous with his time, he did football functions for us, cricket functions, donated apparel and gave us cricket bats and signed I reckon nearly every Keilor footballer and cricketer’s merchandise,” Callahan said.
“I used to go over there with suitcases of it and we would spend hours together, and there he was, signing it all.”
Callahan said Warne had a soft spot for community sport, and thanks to his involvement in Keilor’s functions, the club was able to afford to improve their facilities, buy more equipment and experience success on and off the field.
He said the support his family has received since Warne’s death has been “overwhelming”.
“We get messages, people send us photos of Shane, and a photograph of them together,” Callahan said.
“It just shows the legacy that he’ll leave.
“It’s very, very sad. Sad for the family, but sad for so many people in so many different parts of life where he connected with them – he always left a lasting impression.”
Among those to feel Warne’s generosity was Sunshine’s Peter Hatzoglou.
A rising leg spinner in the Big Bash League, the 23-year-old said Warne had been generous in his interactions.
“My relationship with Shane began in the off season in July 2021, where I was training in Melbourne,” Hatzoglou said.
“I reached out to him on Instagram – I sent him a message just asking for some advice on a few little things – I hardly expected him to get back to me, but he did.
“I think a lot of people in the past week have spoken about how generous he was with his time and how he was humble and all that, even after achieving the stuff he did achieve.
“That’s been my experience with him.”
Hatzoglou said growing up, he’d tried to imitate Warne’s style of bowling “with the slow big turning leg spinners”.
“That was something I just did naturally, because everyone wanted to bowl like Warnie, he’d been so successful,” Hatzoglou said.
“For me, my bowling style, although I bowl leg spin, it’s almost like a different leg spin as you can bowl to Shane Warne.
“I tried to bowl like him… [But] no one can really bowl like him.”
Owen Phillips, a spin bowler and senior player at the Lancefield Cricket Club, said Warne was the reason he bowls leg spin.
“Everyone my age who saw him playing throughout the 2000s has a leg spin delivery that they’ve got as a result of watching him play,” the 27-year-old said.
“He’s such a big cultural touchstone that any time you do something on the field, especially for spin bowling, you probably think, ‘There’s a bit of Warnie in that’.”
Phillips will never forget seeing Warne take his 700th wicket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2006.
“Probably one of the biggest sporting moments I’ll ever get to witness.”
Rupertswood Cricket Club president Peter Kavanagh described what it was like to have Warne come down to the birthplace of the Ashes for a clinic in 2011.
Kavanagh was junior co-ordinator of the club at the time and said there was a “huge buzz” at the ground.
“It was a very special day for cricket in Sunbury for sure,” he said.
While many have highlighted Warne’s on-field glory and the off-field scandals, Callahan remembers a man whose main focus was his family and his kids.
“Those children are so well-grounded, they love their dad, they love their mum,” Callahan said.
“That was the most important thing for Shane and Simone to have those children be so grounded, which they are, they’re so beautiful.
“They will continue with his legacy, and the name, and that’s the most important thing that will come out of all of this.”
