Lloyd Johansson: Rugby Player and Residential Youth Worker
by Brendan Bradford –
Sometimes – very rarely – a rugby player has a decent excuse for being late for an interview. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting Melbourne Rising centre and former Wallaby Lloyd Johansson to be one of them when I couldn’t reach him on the phone on Tuesday afternoon. How wrong I was.
Now a part-time player training three nights a week with the Rising, the 29-year-old works at the Adidas warehouse and does some residential youth work in Melbourne. That’s why he was a bit late.
“We were kicking the ball around for about an hour or so and they were just being normal kids,” he says.
“It’s a residency for youths – it’s their house – and I’m there to look after them and pretty much be like a big brother. If they’re out somewhere they might call in and I’ll go pick them up but if they’re at