"If cricket ended for him tomorrow, and he wanted to get back on the tools, I'd give him a job in my business."

That's Ben Gibson from BJ Gibson Constructions in Toowoomba. The "he" that Gibbo, as he's known to his friends, is referring to is a former star apprentice, who now also happens to be an Australian Test cricketer. Gibson isn't the only construction business owner in the garden city of southern Queensland who still raves about the carpentry skills of Brendan Doggett.

Nelson Janke goes a step further.

"Brendan simply loved his carpentry, and if in an alternate world, he'd put his mind more to his carpentry instead of cricket, he'd have gone a long way and would be running his own business now," says Janke, who was Doggett's first boss when he took him as an apprentice in 2012.

These rave reviews from his superiors from a previous life resonate with how Doggett himself had described his journey on the eve of his Test debut in Perth. Where he spoke about how deep inside, he was still that "chippy" from Toowoomba. And as exciting as wearing the Baggy Green is, how he sees himself easily slipping back into his previous avatar once he's done with his cricket.

That is exactly the Brendan that both Gibson and Janke reminisce about and adore from their time spent on multiple construction sites around southern Queensland.

The humble, 'cruisey', man without a single selfish bone in his body, who will always put everyone else first. An overall "good fellow" who now just happens to be bowling alongside Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland in an Ashes series.

Someone who'll never forget his roots, which he clearly hasn't, often mentioning even now the role that Janke and Gibson played in shaping his early life down in Toowoomba.

Janke still has records of when Doggett first joined his business, and he looks through them as we speak on the phone.

"Bren's start date was February 6, 2012, and he finished his apprenticeship and signed off as a carpenter on February 26, 2016," he states.

Gibson, meanwhile, met Doggett when he joined Janke's company as a tradie a decade ago. He reminisces about the many construction sites where Doggett and he would spend hours working as a tag team. Including the one time when Australia's latest fast bowler nearly burnt down a boarding house. A story he narrates with great enthusiasm.

"We would build houses or even do some commercial jobs that Nelson would sub-contract. And one of them was at a boarding house at Toowoomba Grammar School. Brendan and I spent two months hanging 300 doors. It was boring work, but one day Brendan unintentionally made it all very exciting," he says, trying to suppress his laughter.

Gibson recalls having left Doggett alone to continue working while he went to a hardware store to get some "trimmer bits", and when he returned, he saw the room where they'd prepped all the doors was covered in smoke.

"The trimmer Brendan was using had become very blunt, but he was still an apprentice and stuck with it, and rather than cutting the wood, it had started burning it. But to me it was another sign of how unfazed and casual Brendan is in life, not even taking notice of the smoke all around him."

These stories are another sign of the impact that the 31-year-old had on those who grew up in his teen years while working towards a professional career. But cricket was always part of the Brendan Doggett narrative even back then.

It was also the common ground that Doggett bonded over with his workmates, including Janke and Gibson. And the surrealness to their boy now running in and dismissing English batters in front of millions of people on TV isn't lost on either of them.

"Yesterday, he was building houses with me and now he's steaming in and taking Test wickets for Australia at Perth Stadium? To say that I am proud is underselling it. It's an amazing story," says Janke.

"We used to discuss cricket all the time, and the likes of Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc, who were all boyhood heroes for Bren. And to see him rubbing shoulders with them in a Baggy Green is just outstanding," he adds.

Gibson played a high level of grade cricket in Brisbane himself before moving to Toowoomba. And his cricketing links with Doggett went beyond just discussing it. They even formed a work indoor cricket team. While he'd identified Doggett as being a highly-talented cricketer, Gibbo does recall sweetly about how nervous his partner used to be when it came to bowling the vital overs in indoor cricket.

"Remarkable when I think that Brendan is playing Test cricket. For someone who was too scared to bowl the 4th and final over of the pair in indoor cricket, because as you know wides and no balls could end up with the batting team requesting for it to re-bowled. And Brendan would always be too worried to bowl that over as a result," he says, still sounding equally amused by how things have changed for Doggett the cricketer.

What Gibson does remember is the extraordinary work ethic that he witnessed from Doggett with regards to his cricket even back then. What made him stand out even more.

"I've never come across anything like it. He'd be on a road bike riding for 100 kms during the weekend getting his glutes and legs stronger while the rest of us are enjoying our time off," he says.

Janke also has vivid memories of simply how dedicated his young apprentice was too to the sport he loved. But he remembers a crucial "fork in the road" moment that came along in Doggett's fourth and final year when cricket started to play a bigger part in his weekly schedule. Often leading to him having to miss work.

To support his observation, Janke even pulls out Doggett's self-performance review form from 2015 when he was on the cusp of entering his graduation year as an apprentice. The question was where Doggett saw himself in the next five years.

"His answers read like this. Firstly, to finish his apprenticeship, then to become a tradesman and thirdly to play cricket for Australia. And now he's done them all."

Janke does admit having pushed Doggett over the finish line with his apprenticeship though even if he'd started taking multiple days off during the week to go to Brisbane for cricket training or a second XI match. By then, the fast bowler was also being roped in by Queensland's developmental teams and before long the Brisbane Heat. And as excited as Janke was with his Test debut, he still remembers the early days of Doggett playing state cricket.

"He gifted me one of his first One-Day Cup Bulls' jerseys, and I still have it with me," he says.

Gibson recounts that period as being very transformative for Doggett as far as his early Queensland career went.

"He was getting called up routinely to be a net bowler or to play seconds. So you'd see him at work on Monday but the rest of the week he's back in Brisbane playing cricket and then playing a two-day game across the weekend. Plus driving up and down there twice every week post work for training sessions. That's when Queensland signed him up very young on a developmental contract," he says.

From that point on, Doggett's cricket took off to such an extent that he was flying to the UAE as part of an Australian Test squad only two years after he'd officially qualified to be a carpenter (or chippy as they're known in these parts).

Never did he ever lose touch with his roots though. Both Janke and Gibson put that down to the terrific grounding received at home from his parents, Kevin and Kath Doggett, two stalwarts of society in Toowoomba.

"Salt of the earth Aussie family unit. They are great parents, always checking in on him and making sure he's going ok. And it's gone through to his blood too. For, he's always ensuring everyone around him is doing great," says the former boss.

It's Kath Doggett's generosity and care that Gibson raves about the most when he talks of their family. Especially the way she would pack extra lamb shanks or lamb rolls for Smoko time (which translates to morning tea in Tradie talk in Australia) for the rest of the boys.

"Bren would just say, mate, don't worry about packing your Smoko today. Mum's sending food for you. And it was always a treat," he says while revealing how Kath ended up at his doorstep with a gift in hand the day his child was born.

When you bring up his mum's popularity with Doggett himself, he just chuckles and talks about how the boys initially used to make fun of him for being a Momma's boy but soon started indulging in the more elaborate food that was packed for me.

"They'd have peanut butter sandwiches or a ham and cheese, but then I'd come with my lamb shanks and other stuff Mum would pack for us," he says on the sidelines.

So, neither of them is surprised when you bring up Doggett's insistence that he will one day return to Toowoomba to maybe even put on the nail belt again. That is the Bren they've known all along after all.

"If you asked me whether I thought Bren would become a Test cricketer one day while he was working as an apprentice, I'd have said no way. But he believed he would and look at him now. He's not changed at all. He's living the dream, but he makes sure we remain an integral part of it," says Janke.

Gibson echoes these views saying, "Brendan will never forget the little guy and will always be a normal person. Regardless of how many Tests he plays or what levels he reaches next."

And they both admit that they can see him settling back in Toowoomba. What is for sure is that there'll be a job waiting for him if he does. Maybe even his own business to run.