Robertson, the former off-spinner who played four Tests for his country, will be joined by a handful of other NSW greats in Dubbo this week and will take part in numerous cricket and mental health seminars in the city.

While Thursday’s Twenty20 under lights at No. 1 featuring some current Blues stars will be the highlight of the tour, Robertson knows a free breakfast and seminar run by the Rural Adversity Mental Health Program (RAMHP) can be the most important part of the trip.

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“There was a gentleman in Port Macquarie (during a previous tour) who was really struggling and had been down that road a number of times,” he said.

“He came to breakfast and spoke with me for half an hour afterwards and then he turned up at another seminar and then the game that night.

“He was doing really well and eight or nine months later he called in to my radio show just to let me know how he was doing and to say thank you.

“That’s the beauty of this.”

The tour is all about starting a conversation through cricket, a sport which is played by so many people who are doing it tough in rural and regional areas.

But it’s not only those people who can benefit from the services RAMHP and the Baggy Blues can offer. Robertson said the former players get just as much out of it, adding few people know how tough it is for professional sportsman to find their way after retiring.

“Cricket is probably the sport which has been affected most by suicide. There’s been books written on it and much said and it is tough,” he said.

“A lot of us have gone through stuff and at the breakfast we’ll talk about that. We’ll be open, honest, and candid, and you need to be.

“This helps us and our members.”

Cricket writer David Frith has written numerous books on the topic, with his first covering 80 cricket suicides while further books covered another 150.

“We need to make that door normal to open and make it natural for people to talk,” Robertson said.

Robertson will be joined at Dubbo by fellow Baggy Blues members Rick McCosker, Steve Rixon, Phil Emery, Dubbo’s own Stuart Webster, and more.

They’ll speak at a dinner event on Wednesday night before taking part in a huge number of junior clinics for the region’s up-and-comers on Thursday afternoon.

They will also be on hand at No. 1 that night as the match between a Dubbo XI and Macquarie Valley XI is played out.

Big Bash League (BBL) stars Daniel Hughes and Ryan Gibson, as well as NSW youngsters Charlie Stobo, Harry Conway, and Param Uppal will be split among the two sides.

“We love getting together and it’s awesome to be bringing cricket to country areas,” Robertson said.

“That’s really the lifeblood of NSW and Australian cricket and we can take the game to those people and connect with them.

“We used to love going out there on the old Toohey’s Cup trips and we can run into people who might have seen 20 or 30 years ago.”

Tickets for the gala dinner at the Dubbo RSL on Wednesday night are available from 123tix.com.au while the mental health breakfast run by RAMHP runs for an hour from 7.30am the next day, again at the club.

The junior clinic runs from 4.30-6pm on Thursday afternoon before the main match that night at 6.30pm.

It will be a gold coin entry at No. 1 Oval.