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Australia coach Justin Langer says team spirit is high in the current squad after an 'uplifting' pre-tour camp gave him a chance to respond to player feedback.
Justin Langer left Australia's pre-tour camp "feeling like Superman" after detailing plans for the future while responding to player feedback about his coaching style.
Langer, speaking on the eve of his side's Twenty20 series opener against the West Indies in St Lucia, described media reports of player unrest and his intensity as being hurtful and confusing.
The former Test opener also reiterated a desire to continue in the high-pressure job beyond mid-2022, when his current four-year contract is due to expire.
Langer's approach and future have been the topic of much speculation since a Test series loss to India, which also snapped Australia's 32-year undefeated run in Gabba Tests.
Leadership consultant Tim Ford canvassed players' views about Langer and other topics after the home summer.
Ford's review was passed onto Langer, whose first chance to discuss the elephant in the room came on a Gold Coast camp attended by the current touring party plus Test skipper Tim Paine and other senior players.
"I left the camp feeling like Superman," Langer said on Friday.
"It was such a great few days for us up in the Gold Coast, it was brilliant. It was good to get everyone back together ... hadn't seen them since the last day of the last Test.
"We addressed some of those issues.
"Everyone's absolutely flying at the moment. There's a great spirit over here and we've just appointed our two new senior assistant coaches, which I'm delighted about."
Cricket Australia has hired Michael Di Venuto and Jeff Vaughan, wanting to give Langer more support after sacking batting coach Graeme Hick last year as part of cost-cutting measures.
White-ball captain Aaron Finch revealed last week that greater delegation to assistant coaches was among the areas that Langer vowed to improve on amid the "confronting" process.
"We're not a great team yet and that's what we're all aspiring to. Like I'm aspiring to be a great coach," Langer said, recounting his words to players on the Gold Coast.
"I'm not a great coach yet, I'm aspiring to be a great coach.
"I'm working towards it and I hope all the players are doing the same thing.
"I was really honest about that and it was a really, really uplifting two days."
The same can't be said of the months that followed one of the low points of Langer's coaching tenure.
"Some of the things I was reading was a bit confusing ... I was really hurt by some of it," he said
"The feedback I've been given for three years has been overwhelmingly positive ... I've done a really good job.
"I certainly hadn't heard (complaints) from any of the players."
Langer added "if the board, the CEO and the high-performance manager believe I'm the right person" then he would seek a contract extension.
Asked about the Black Lives Matter movement and taking a knee, Langer noted "we'll stand united with West Indian cricket as a sign of respect for them and use cricket as a platform to deal with this stain of racism and social injustice".
