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One of the Perth Football Club's best defenders in their rampaging combination of the seventies, Ken Inman, actually bagged a goal with his first kick in league football. “It was the first of a grand total of four,” he laughed when we chatted with him. “I was a reserve against East Perth, when Ian Miller was hurt in the last quarter. I went to full forward opposed to Brad Smith, and a wayward punt landed in my arms.”Which was also ironical, because growing up, Inman had always been a keen East Perth supporter and had his heart set on wearing the blue and black. “As things turned out, it was the efficient way the junior network was organised in the Perth area that made the path to Lathlain seem the natural way to go,” he said.Not that the Perth Football Club was unaware of the potential of the young Inman. Playing his junior football with Centrals, Inman came under the guidance of Murray Collins. “Murray's son was the same age as me so he coached me through the age groups,”he recalled. “He was a very good coach of juniors, and it had a profound effect on me that proved beneficial in later years.” Inman got accustomed to grand final action early in his career,being part of a 1972 colts premiership, a reserves flag in 1973, followed by the disappointment of a league grand final loss to East Fremantle in 1974.A centre half forward early in his junior days, Ken played mostly at centre half back with the colts and reserves, but his height(five foot eleven) told against him at league level, and maybe that wasn't a bad thing, because he became an important cog in the side as a close checking half back flanker.  A pacy, determined, and team oriented player, he was noted for the efficiency of his disposal of the ball to teammates, as well as his close checking style of play, and understanding of the players around him. Inman made a good impression in his debut season of 1973, but an injured ankle resulted in him dropping back into the reserves side that played off for, and won, the flag. Cementing a place as a defender in the league side the following year, he showed his capabilities under pressure in the first of several impressive grand final performances in Perth's loss to East Fremantle.. Perth won premierships in 1976 and 77, with Ken Inman among the best on ground in both. Presented with club captaincy in 1978, he was part of Western Australia's sixty nine point win over South Australia in Adelaide in July of that year. He was unable to gain the distinction of captaining a premiership side, though, with the Demons surprise losers to East Perth in the grand final.Ken Inman surprised team mates and supporters by retiring in his prime in 1980, at the age of twenty six, after playing 154 games.  “ I had a wife and twelve month old son,” he explained. “I felt it was time to put my time into my business career for the sake of the future of my family.” He was soon recruited by Radio 6PR, and joined Tim Flynn, Les Mumme, John O'Connell, Jack Sweet, and Ian Miller for their football discussion shows and around the ground reports.  He rated East Fremantle half forward, Noel Avery, as a hard man to beat on his day, and as for best teammate: “Rob Wiley for the ability to get the hard ball and his influence on a game, and for sheer kicking prowess, Murray Couper.”Today, Ken has toned down the long distance running and surfing that replaced football after his career had ended, and enjoys walking. His life these days is centred around his children, who have spread to all parts of Australia, which ensures a lot of travel when he and wife Joanne are able to get away. Ken Inman didn't win fairest and best awards. He wasn't that sort of player. Not flashy or spectacular, he never stood out in a side that boasted the likes of Shields, Hargreaves, Wiley, Couper, Rosbender, Miller, Bosustow, Cable, Brehaut, Mitsopoulos, and Millson, but he was by the same token an important member of  a defence which included Dickinson, Lofts, Cook, Shields, and Quartermaine. To be captain of one of the Perth Football club's great sides was indeed a reflection of his value to the club.  

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