Shane Watson says Darren Lehmann has made an immediate impact. Source: GLYN KIRK / AFP
As for Watson and captain Michael Clarke's much scrutinised relationship, he laughs off speculation their shared smiles in the slips and on the balcony during the last Ashes series was "stage managed".
Clarke and Watson have swiftly moved on from Mickey Arthur's revelation that the Australian captain once referred to him and his faction in the side as "a cancer" on the team.
The 32 year old explains why they have great working relationship but firstly how that final Ashes innings squashed a mountain of self-doubt ...
JH: What did that 176 innings in the final Ashes test in England mean to you, what does it tell you about where your Test cricket is at?
SW: I hadn't scored any big runs in Test cricket throughout my whole career, and I hadn't scored a 100 in quite a few years, so deep down I was doubting whether I had the game to be able to perform and bat especially for really long periods of time.
Through the Ashes I was going through some technical issues, I was fortunate to have a lot of good people helping me out, and like anything when you work hard on something it's really nice to see the rewards.
To bring it together and bat for a long period of time, it was something I really had been dreaming of in Test cricket, it's really nice looking back now, knowing I can do it. That I have got it in me, hopefully there is a little bit more to come in the next Ashes series.
Shane Watson found some confidence late in the Ashes loss. Source: AFP
JH: What's it like to deal with that nagging self-doubt in the middle of a series?
SW: Life's never meant to be easy and I was very lucky to have my wife Lee and son Will there during that time so they really took my mind off it at times.
But it was engulfing the majority of my day … it felt like even when I was sleeping.
I was just thinking about; "How am I going to get better? How am I going to find a way to achieve things that I feel that I have got in me but I haven't been able to show?… it'"
It's mentally draining. In the end I learnt my lesson the hard way, especially in Test cricket, because I kept on making mistakes.
But to see Will at the end of the day and see how he was developing, to me that was amazing. I couldn't imagine how I would have got through it if I didn't have Will and Lee there to take my mind off things.
I love cricket but there are more important things life, like having a healthy family and little boy and being the best father I can be.
Shane and Lee Watson with their baby boy, Will. Source: Supplied
JH: Speaking to Lee you had no qualms in getting up in the middle night to help her settle Will?
SW: During the Test match Will was in our room and it didn't worry me at all if I was getting woken up. The majority of the time I was still getting a good sleep. Lee is an amazing mum and she was doing a brilliant job as well. I am there to help out and it's more important than a cricket game.
JH: Heading into the next Ashes series, where do you feel you are at?
SW: I feel like I am only getting better. I have made a lot of mistakes in Test cricket with my batting; I feel like I have really got through that period of time and now is really the time to capitalise on all the experience that I have had.
I hope I can contribute more with the ball in this Ashes series if my body continues to stay together.
With my batting, I feel like we are much more settled in the batting order, the balance we had in the last Test match we had some stability in the batting order.
To know no matter how things are going, there is always a way to work through it and come out the other end.
Shane Watson has maintained his one-day form throughout his Test struggles. Source: AFP
JH: Can you talk about the LBW problem you had and how you started to conquer it?
SW: I had to go through a few changes. I had to, I had no choice, it couldn't really get any worse.
I could get to the start of an innings, I would get to 20 and they would find a way to bowl that ball and get me out. I couldn't keep doing that over and over again. I have been very lucky to have a lot of people around me, who would send me an email, call me up, and all the information I was getting had a common thread.
From the fourth Test I was able to make the changes.
More than anything it was something as simple as just getting my weight right, so my bat was out in front of my pad a bit more, so if the ball seamed, which were the balls were predominantly getting me out, I was able to get my bat on it a bit more.
It was as simple as getting my head over my front leg.
Sometimes I was getting a bit stuck and they'd bowl that ball and get me out. I am well on my way now to resolving it.
JH: What are your thoughts on the DRS? Do you like it?
SW: No. (Watson laughs) I have realised I am a shocking umpire ...
I have really learnt the umpires are the experts and that I have no idea.
I am happy to admit I am useless at it. Umpiring is not for me when I finish. I'd like to go into coaching.
JH: Throughout Ricky Ponting's new book At The Close Of Play, his attitude toward discipline is starkly at odds with the recent less forgiving approach – in an interview last week he said; "The environment was all about looking after each other, protecting each other, not hanging them out to dry which I think has been happening." Has it changed under Darren Lehmann?
SW: It has changed under Darren. There is no doubt about that. There were times in the previous two years that weren't ideal. The way things were going was definitely in the wrong direction.
The day that Darren came in things changed significantly and only for the better. It is now at the stage where everyone is really enjoying themselves again.
When Darren first came in, the first meeting we had, he said: "This should be the time of your life." That it was a privilege to be able to play for your country, and when I first started playing and training for Australia that's how it was, but we had gone away from it.
JH: What exactly did he bring back to create a happier team environment?
SW: Experience about what it is to play for Australia – it is that simple.
He knew what environment you needed to get the best out of the Australian team.
He knows the Australian way of playing cricket and living that day to day. That's what he brought in. I was lucky enough to play with Darren when he first came into the team and that's the way he played. He was a genius of a player himself. Off the field everyone really enjoyed themselves and it meant guys were a lot closer.
Everyone was enjoying each other's success. It is a really exciting time, for not just me who has been through what it was originally, then been through that other period, now it is back to a really exciting time.
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