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<\/p>\nVictorian seamer Fergus O\u2019Neill admits he occasionally needs a kick up the backside from his more experienced teammates.<\/p>\n
During the recent pre-season, Scott Boland kept a watchful eye on the 24-year-old, ensuring his preparation and training were up to scratch – and the Victorian veteran wasn\u2019t afraid to call him out whenever he let his standards slip.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s into me today for not doing my gym before lunchtime,\u201d O\u2019Neill laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ve got that done, for Bazza.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s always into me about being diligent, doing all the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even as Boland approaches the twilight of his professional career, the 36-year-old remains fully dedicated to his training and fitness. Fourteen years on from his first-class debut, he still doesn\u2019t cut corners or make excuses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why O\u2019Neill considers him \u201cthe ultimate professional\u201d, someone he hopes to mould himself on.<\/p>\n
Watch the 2025 Men\u2019s T20 Internationals LIVE & EXCLUSIVE on FOX CRICKET, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1 ><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s diligent with the ice baths and the stretching and the sleep; he likes to make his room an igloo so it\u2019s freezing when he goes to bed,\u201d O\u2019Neill continued.<\/p>\n \u201cHe doesn\u2019t do a training session halfway, he\u2019s all the way in. Whether that\u2019s his gym, whether that\u2019s his bowling, whether he\u2019s doing it for ten minutes or an hour. He just keeps smashing away.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s probably a bit of a perfect man, something that I\u2019m not always the best at. But I need someone to mould myself on.\u201d<\/p>\n Discipline, O\u2019Neill admits, is his achilles heel, but he wants to be more diligent moving forward.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a younger guy, you probably let it slide,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201dBut it\u2019s something that I\u2019m trying to be a little bit better at.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the 12-year age gap and differing personalities – O\u2019Neill is the team larrikin while Boland is more soft-spoken – they are similar in many respects. They\u2019re both right-armed quicks that consistently bowl in the high 130km\/h, capable of wreaking havoc on a lively deck with probing nibblers and wobble-seam deliveries.<\/p>\n They\u2019re not particularly tall, or fast, and they don\u2019t swing the Kookaburra as much as their teammates, but what Boland lacks in pace, he more than makes up for with relentless accuracy \u2014 something O\u2019Neill is eager to replicate.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing that\u2019s so scary about him, and I know he speaks a lot about it with the big boys as well, is he just keeps it so simple,\u201d O\u2019Neill said.<\/p>\n \u201cAll he says is just keep running in, smacking that nice area with lots of energy on the ball.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s good enough for him, so it\u2019s good enough for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Fergus O’Neill of Victoria. Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n Born in New Zealand and raised in Melbourne, O\u2019Neill has been one of the Sheffield Shield\u2019s most consistent performers over the last couple of years. He put himself firmly in the national radar last season by taking 38 wickets at 21.07 in the Sheffield Shield, later named player of the tournament, while the previous summer he received the prestigious Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year award for his 40 scalps at 17.25.<\/p>\n \u201cHis numbers are outstanding,\u201d superstar bowler Josh Hazlewood said of O\u2019Neill, who recently returned from the Australia A tour of India.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t watched a lot of him bowl live, but his numbers just stand out.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s ticked off a few boxes the last few years and he\u2019s sort of that go-to for the Vics.\u201d<\/p>\n Test captain Pat Cummins agreed: \u201cO\u2019Neill has been super consistent for Victoria.<\/p>\n \u201cHe seems pretty well-suited for decks that nip around a little bit, which in Australia we\u2019ve actually had a few of the last few years.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone that\u2019s taking wickets consistently and winning games for their teams, we always look at.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill, a Maribyrnong College student that captained Victoria at under-12 level, is also handy with the willow, averaging 20.54 at first-class level with two fifties to his name. He first gained press attention in 2014 when he and father Peter cracked twin hundreds for Flemington Colts in a North West Metro Cricket Association match.<\/p>\n An accomplished footballer, O\u2019Neill also represented the Calder Cannons in the NAB League, Victoria\u2019s top Under-18s competition, during his late teens \u2014 but he ultimately chose to pursue cricket.<\/p>\n Peter O’Neill and 13-year-old son Fergus. Picture: Paul LoughnanSource: News Corp AustraliaFergus O’Neill (right) of the Calder Cannons in 2019. AAP Image\/James RossSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n On the field, O\u2019Neill dons a gold chain on his chest with silver earrings on his left ear. During his one-day debut for Victoria, a rat tail bounced off the back of his neck as he steamed into bowl.<\/p>\n Victorian teammate Campbell Kellaway, who also travelled to India last month, has played alongside O\u2019Neill since their junior days, with the duo coming through the ranks together at Melbourne Cricket Club.<\/p>\n \u201cFergie\u2019s good fun, he\u2019s a bit of an enigma,\u201d Kellaway told Fox Cricket.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s very confident in his own ability, but he\u2019s got the skill to back it up \u2026 they\u2019re the kind of guys you want to play with.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s definitely a barometer in our side at the Vics; he\u2019s set the tone as a bowler across all domestic cricket over the last couple of years now.\u201d<\/p>\n Kellaway also doesn\u2019t shy away from poking fun at O\u2019Neill\u2019s quest to become a fast-medium bowler, rather than a medium-fast one.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been trying to put on a yard or two of pace,\u201d Kellaway continued, with tongue in cheek.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a dibbly-dobbler medium pacer, he\u2019s trying to work on his bouncer at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Fergus O’Neill on one-day debut for Victoria. Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill earned his maiden Australia A call-up last summer, taking 4-55 in a red-ball contest against India A in Mackay. A few months later, he flew across to the United Kingdom for a brief stint with eventual champions Nottinghamshire in the County Championship, taking 21 scalps at 17.90 with two five-wicket hauls, including a career-best 5-19 at Edgbaston.<\/p>\n When his 28-day visa expired and he left the country, he was the competition\u2019s leading wicket-taker.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it was cloudy over there, and obviously with the Dukes ball, it just felt like it was going everywhere,\u201d O\u2019Neill recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like you were always in the game, from over one to over 80.\u201d<\/p>\n