NRL great Andrew Johns reveals Shane Warne plan before the spin king's sudden death
An NRL Immortal has lifted the lid on one of the great podcasts that never was with a cricketing legend.
Andrew Johns revealed he had plans to host a podcast with the King of Spin, Shane Warne, before the bowler's sad passing in 2022.
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Speaking on the Hello Sport podcast on Sunday, the dual premiership winner with the Newcastle Knights said he initially met Warne in 2019 through sports broadcaster Mark Howard of The Howie Games podcast, where he then dropped the news.
'Before Warnie (passed away) — can't believe he's not with us — we were going to do a podcast together,' Johns said.
'I flew down twice (to Warne's home) and we did like a rehearsal.'
Johns said he quickly learned that people misunderstood Warne and the belief that he lived an erratic lifestyle wasn't true.
'Mate what a champion,' he said. 'He was such a good guy. That surprised me, I thought he'd be like a mad party animal. He hardly drank.
'He was so cool, he was so down to earth, such a legend.
'Just an aura, one of those blokes who walks into a room and everyone says 'wow'.
'The first time I met him I faced him at the nets at the SCG during lunch. I was like how good's this?
'When I got there I was so nervous facing the king. He actually hit me in the nuts with the ball and I got a photo with the protector and went, 'when you're out with Warnie you've always got to wear protection'.'
Asked if he knew what the podcast would have been called, the Wide World of Sports commentator was unsure, but said he and Warne's interest in the project was serious
'I think it was before Covid. I went down to his house. He had a bar area and a big pool table,' he said.
'When I was talking to him I was just totally in awe.'
Despite the positive rehearsals and signs their chemistry could be a hit to listeners, Johns said nothing ever materialised before then receiving the tragic news three years later that the Australian icon had died in Thailand.
'It's one of those Princess Diana's or September 11's, one of those moments where you knew where you were when you heard,' Johns said about Warne's death.
'He's just one of those characters you think they're going to live forever.'
Johns wished he had met Warne before his brief, but famous two-game cricket career for the NSW Twenty20 side in the 2006-07 season.
The more natural league man admitted he arrived at his first game less on the sober side after he attended teammate Danny Buderus's wedding the night before.
'The first game was at Newy (Newcastle) and they didn't know how it was going to go so they needed a bit of publicity,' he said.
'When I say I had minimal sleep, it was like an extended blink.
'We bowl first and then we're batting second, and I'd come in last and we need six to win or something.
'Simon Katich is just down the other end and he goes 'whatever you do, don't turn around'. So I get up the end, Shaun Tait's bowling.
'So what do I do? I look around, he's coming in like the Terminator, and mate he's a big unit, coming in and he let's this thing go. It's like a hurricane and I could not see the ball. Katich went to play it and then it was in the hands of the wicky (wicket keeper).
'I called him down and said mate you're either hitting sixes or fours, I'm not f**king facing this bloke. Not a f**king chance in the world. But I sobered up like that.'
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