By Nick Creely
Brendan ‘BJ’ Johnson has enjoyed a decorated career at suburban cricket level.
Over 10,000 runs, multiple premierships and in excess of 300 first XI games in local cricket with Blackburn South – where he coached the club 15 years ago – and more recently Beaconsfield.
It is a mighty resume.
And now the champion top-order batsman will take on a whole new challenge after being signed as the Tigers’ new non-playing head coach as they search for silverware in the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s Turf 2 competition.
After joining the Tigers in 2013/14, ‘BJ’ has scored almost 3,000 runs with four centuries next to his name, providing a constant source of consistency. He replaces Nathan Goodes, who did a strong job as coach for the past two seasons, but will now slip back into just a playing capacity.
He told the Gazette he was excited about the challenge of leading a club with such a proud, illustrious history.
“The club’s got a fantastic history,” he said proudly of his new role.
“You walk in the clubrooms and you’re blown away by all the history, Mick McMahon’s done a wonderful job with that.
“If I can help the future generations put their stamp on it, that’s my goal. I want success for them, I want to help get them there.”
Johnson said that after a lengthy stint of just focusing on playing, the timing was right to once again take on a coaching gig.
“It was a perfect storm with my work and not playing,” he said.
“Basically, it got me keen again – if I was playing again, it probably wasn’t something I’d really want to do.
“My kids are taking up a fair commitment for me too, so it all aligned – the job came open, and it sparked my interest.”
Johnson said times have certainly changed since he last held the top role at Blackburn South, but believes he’s ready and raring to once again, this time in the powerful DDCA competition which continues to go from strength to strength each year.
“It was a lot different back then – we had four sides, I was captain-coach and now it is just non-playing, and big numbers and I’ve got good people around me,” he said.
“I have more experience now – it would have been a bit daunting back then, but I’m looking forward to it.”
The Tigers narrowly finished outside of Turf 2 finals last season, but its six senior sides enjoyed strong results across the board, including an F Grade premiership. Johnson said that the club was expecting to field seven sides next season.
And he’s put the onus on the exciting crop of youngsters to take the next step alongside the likes of steady senior players in Michael Vandort, Nathan Goodes, Michael Dunstan, and dynamic bowlers Callan Tout and Jake Cutting.
“The improvement is going to come from the kids – a lot of them will get opportunities, especially with me not playing,” he said.
“It’s up to them. If they put in the work, they’ll get the opportunities, and that’s where our improvement will come from.
“The bowling attack is strong, we’ve just got to pick up the slack with the bat, so the opportunities are there for the taking.”
The Tigers have added a handy name to its list, recruiting AK Tyrone from Garfield-Tynong, with the off-spinning all-rounder expected to be a tricky proposition for opposition sides with his power.
“He’s got Sri Lankan Under 19 experience which he did really well in, so we’re really looking forward to getting him in,” he said.
“He’ll bowl bulk overs through the middle order.”
Johnson said that the Tigers have retained the majority of its first XI list, but Luke Stow will play for Dandenong and batsman Tyler Clark is expected to take a season off but may be available for the back-end of the season.
