Langer also revealed the media leaks also affected his family.
Australia head coach Justin Langer has on Saturday (February 27) opened up about the media leaks regarding his coaching style while revealing the emotional toll of the spotlight on his coaching style especially following the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa two years ago.
Last month, Australian newspapers reported that some of the Australian players were unhappy with Langer's “mood swings”, “micro management” and strict style of coaching after the home Test series loss to the second-string Indian cricket team in January 2021.
There has been more than ever attention on the Australian cricket team since the sandpaper gate incident and Langer said being under the constant spotlight has worn him down.
Reacting to the media reports of his coaching style, the Aussie coach revealed that he was hurt and distressed following the media leaks that has also affected his family, especially his wife and she had even asked him why he was coaching the senior national team.
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Justin Langer said on Perth's Sport: “I might sound like a sook here, but the biggest thing that will wear me down isn't the travel, isn't the game, isn't the three formats, it is just the incredible spotlight you are always under We've felt that the last few weeks. A lot of it was pretty rough, and that wears down my family as much as anything. I'm meant to be the tough guy, but it hurts.”
The Australian coach was upset that the players and coaching staff didn't talk to him directly about the discontent and he learnt about this from the media two weeks after the Test series loss against India.
He said, “That’s the killer (learning about the discontent from media). I’ve talked for years about honest conversations, and the worst part about it all for me was it came out two weeks after the Test match; if there was such an issue, the players or the assistant coaches would have come and spoken to me.”
Langer further admitted that there are aspects he as a coach can improve upon, but his coaching style hasn’t changed since he took the job in 2018.
He signed off by saying, “I honestly believe that whilst there are areas we can always improve, the only thing that’s really changed about me since I’ve been in this job, since I’ve been in the Western Australia (coaching job), is we lost a Test match. Nothing else has changed. I’ve been hopefully consistent for a really long time.”
(With cricket.com.au Inputs)