Everyone is on Glenn Maxwell's case. Dean Jones' solution would be a mentor. Ever the left-field thinker, Jones also foresees a time when cricketers will take personal coaches around the world with them, like golfers.
Jones said he would not want to suppress Maxwell's exuberance, as cricketer or personality. "I don't want my sportsmen to come out of cookie mould," he said. "I want them to have a personality and be able to say what they want. But they need the right forum.
"Maxwell needs a mentor. Someone like Chris Rogers, Mike Hussey, Mark Taylor. Someone he could speak to, vent to, get it off his chest and then say, OK, this is what we need to do."
Jones said he was incredulous that Maxwell was not in Australia's one-day team now, rather than Mitch Marsh. "He's got enough charisma in the way he plays. At the top of his game, he's in our team, first picked," he said.
"He's already going to India anyway. Ashwin [India's world-beating off-spinner] hates bowling to him; that's a proven fact."
But turbulence in his recent past, including an aborted move to NSW and his publicly strained relationship with Victorian captain Matthew Wade, had muddied the waters. Only weight of runs would make all clear again, Jones said.
Jones was speaking at the launch of his latest book, Dean Jones' Cricket Tips, with illustrations by former Age master cartoonist John Spooner.
Subtitled "the things they don't teach you at the academy", it is Jones' collection of insights from a galaxy of latter-day stars, all of whom gave generously, amounting to the sort of wisdom and lore players once became steeped in while sitting around with revered senior teammates after stumps.
Launching the book, former Australian batsman and former MCC chairman Paul Sheahan scorned "wretched pathways" and said cricket was best learned "in a master-apprentice situation".
Jones said one effect of the cocooning of Australian cricketers was a lessening of pride in state caps as players moved from state to state while jockeying for an opening. "You're creating a pathway for these guys worrying about themselves instead of worrying about the cap," he said.
Another deleterious effect, said Jones, was excess of coaches and the possibility of crossed wires.
"The selectors pick you because they like what you've got," he said. "Then you end up with a different head coach, a different batting coach. How many coaches have they gone through by the time they've played for Australia? Seven? Eight? Nine? I think it's too much. You want consistency."
Jones, just returned from a stint commentating on the India-England Test series, noted that England had 19 ancillary staff for 15 players.
Jones defers still to his first club coach, former Australian opener Keith Stackpole, who also spoke at the launch. "If I had my time again right now, I'd have 'Stacky' in my hip pocket, on contract, and I'd be flying around wherever I need him," he said.
"The money's there [for contemporary players] and it's a tax deduction. I think it's going to go that way. I'm playing for Islamabad United, and then I've got to go off and play in the Caribbean premier league, and I need someone who can work consistently with me around the world. I need continuity to play successful cricket around the world."
Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson once blazed this trail, employing his own physiotherapist. He was ridiculed for it.
