As the start of the representative season is up in the air due to COVID restrictions, Docherty feels this is a great opportunity to learn a variety of technical and game awareness skills that will be needed to represent Murrumbidgee Cricket Council and beyond with the Murrumbidgee Regional Academy.

The academy has been set up using the foundations that was already being used for kids in the Regional Youth Championship sides and taking it to the next level.

"After talking to Greg McLay, who is in charge of Riverina and Western, he was wanting to make it a bit more open and involving as many people to try and increase the quality as much as we could because Riverina hasn't under performed but hasn't hit the potential markers that we have expected," he said.

"Now we are in a good sport, and we have had some good kids come through, so if we get this sort of thing started up then the kids that by the time the kids that are coming through now hit the under 18s and 19s they should be in pretty good stead to know what they need to do."

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Docherty knows the struggles that talented cricketers face coming from a regional area such as the Murrumbidgee and hopes that this academy will be the stepping stone to the Riverina knocking down the door at regional carnivals.

"We are often the forgotten area in the Riverina," he said.

"We want to build it up, and it comes with bringing through coaches that want to go through to that next level as well. It goes hand in hand because the harder that we work with them to try and get them to where they want to be, and the better we go at carnivals like that, the more kids will get selected.

"They can't ignore us if we are just knocking down the door constantly."

There will be four two-hour sessions held at Jubilee Oval, with COVID-safe measures in place, starting this weekend which will see the under 13s, 14s, 15s as well as some 16s broken up into two groups starting this Sunday. There will be experienced local coaches on hand, with Docherty joined by Tim Rand, Derek Forner, Mick Cattanach and John Munro.

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