Selector David Boon has shunned the suggestion that Australia lost the last Ashes because of friendships with the England team, instead conceding the old enemy was just too good.
Several Australian legends, including fellow selector Merv Hughes, former selector Allan Border and batting great Mark Waugh, have all condemned the Australian side for being too friendly to the old enemy.
The old guard felt that captain Ricky Ponting needed to install a hard-nosed edge to his side, including more sledging on the field, if they wanted to reclaim the prized urn this summer, the same edge that made Australia so dominant throughout the 90s.
But Boon said that good relations between the sides had never hindered Australia's performance in the past.
"Some quarters feel we lost the Ashes because we were too friendly. I find that difficult to comprehend. My big mate Merv [Hughes] believes that, but I disagree. The bottom line is England played better than we did," Boon told English newspaper the Guardian.
"It's slightly different now from when we were playing, as there are a lot of Australia players who play county cricket. Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen play at Hampshire and have become mates but there is no doubt that in the Ashes Pietersen wanted to belt the crap out of Warney's bowling and Shane wanted to get him out. That's the contest."
Boon even felt that relations had deteriorated, not improved, between the world's top sides since his playing days.
"I believe the association between teams in cricket has fallen away to a detrimental level," he added.
"At the end of a day's play we used to go into the opposition's changing room and have a drink. One of the greatest assets you can get from sport is making mates and understanding that what happens on the field stays on the field."
Boon also shunned rumours that there is disharmony among the Australian ranks, but admitted there is the occasional in-house row.
"The world is a lovely place mate, but we don't all get on," he said.
"If we all got on and were clones it would be boring as bat shit. But I know through being involved with the Australia cricket team that the supposed rifts and players and coaches not getting on is false."
As one of Tasmania's great batsman, Boon was also quick to defend criticism levelled at another great of the Apple Isle in Ponting.
"Ricky has matured - he stamps his own little piece on the game - and is still learning every day," he said.
"If you go into the dressing room you will see how strong Ricky's leadership is. He leads from the front and is one of the few captains whose personal record has improved during his tenure. He is motivating the players and their record speaks for itself."
