Tara Murray
Druids’ Nathan Johnson is already copping it from his mates ahead of the second season of the Melbourne Renegades Recruit.
Johnson is one of 12 local cricketers from across Victoria who are part of the television show that started on Monday.
The cricketers will be whittled down to three before a public vote to decide the winner.
The winner will be invited to link up with the Renegades Academy squad, which will play matches in the lead up to the BBL season.
The winner will also receive prizes for themselves and their cricket club.
Johnson said the opportunity to be involved in the process with some other good cricketers, was too good to refuse.
“There were a lot of good cricketers on the day,” he said.
“It’s always good to be around professionals. It was a good experience to see how full on it was.
“It was a very huge day and it was really enjoyable. All the guys were in the same boat.”
Johnson is the second Druids player to be part of the show. Captain-coach Michael Hay was part of season one.
Johnson said Hay was one of the first people he spoke to about going on the show.
“I applied and thought I would see what happens,” he said. “I got a phone call and I thought they were setting me up at first. I was in disbelief.
“Micky was the first person I then went to. There’s been a little bit of back and forth.
Johnson said this year was slightly different with no two-kilometre time trial, which he had been preparing for.”
He said for him the show was about proving to himself he still had the ability to play at a higher level.
“I was at Greenvale for three or four years before Druids,” he said.
“If the opportunity arose to go back to premier cricket, I would go back.”
While Johnson knows if he made it through to the final three for the public vote, his mates are eagerly waiting to watch the show.
“I’m already copping it,” he said.
“I play footy [with Albanvale] at the moment. It’s rampant in the group chat.”
Head coach Simon Helmot said it was a good opportunity to give local cricketers a chance to build on their careers.
“It was great spending a day with this group of players and to learn a bit about their cricket and life journeys,” he said.
“There’s no doubt we had some high-quality community cricketers involved, from various metropolitan and regional competitions.
“We had to make some really tough selection decisions – going from the starting 12, to the top six and then the final three.”
