Darren Lehmann's recipe for success draws on Aussie mateship and tough lessons of life, Ben Dorries reports Fast bowler James Pattinson mucks about with Darren Lehmann in the Australian dugout. Picture: Matthew Horwood. LONG before Australian cricket was concerned about when its next champion would drop from the conveyor belt, Darren Lehmann had his own production line issues. His old work buddies at the Holden factory in Adelaide still chortle about how he once put an automatic gearbox in a manual car so the line would stop for an hour and he could escape outside to have a couple of his favourite ciggies. Unlike many of today's metrosexual Australian cricketers who have never worked a blue-collar job, Lehmann can call on plenty of real-life experiences out of the cricket bubble. There is a common, stereotypical image of the durry-smoking, beer-swilling Lehmann but Australia's new cricket coach is far more than that. The man they call "Boof" is the sum of his many parts. He had to battle for a decade in South Australia before getting a taste of Test cricket, has endured the pain of a broken marriage and his life changed forever with the one punch that killed his best mate David Hookes. Hookes' death at a St Kilda pub in 2004 almost destroyed Lehmann but the shattering moment ended up playing a defining role in moulding the cricket and life philosophies of the future Australian coach. The fun-loving spirit of Hookes lives on in every cricket dressing room that Lehmann is a part of. He makes sure players never take themselves or the game too seriously, knowing that life can change in a split second. "When Hooksey died, it put everything in perspective for me," Lehmann told The Courier-Mail after being appointed Queensland Bulls' coach in 2009. Sure, you are playing a professional sport and you want to be a success. But life is more important than any game or any sport. I want players to look after each other outside the game, not just within the game. I've told the players they can't leave the ground for at least an hour after play. We talk about a whole heap of things - it might be cricket, but it might be something else. Current cricketers seem to spend so much time playing on their PlayStations and not experiencing life. Lehmann's family-first mantra was never more obvious than earlier this year when he ordered Bulls captain James Hopes to stand down from the Sheffield Shield final if it looked like his wife, Maria, would give birth to the couple's first child during the season's most important domestic match. So what can Australia's under-performing and misbehaving Test cricketers expect under a new regime of "Boof Cricket"? For starters, there will be a "joke of the day" competition like the one he initiated with the Queensland Bulls. The only rotation policy that Lehmann wants is one which will designate a player to tell a joke every day, in front of all of their teammates in a circle, to keep things lively and help reduce the pressure before big matches. One of cricket's last great colourful characters will also have an open-door policy so his players can discuss anything they want, or raise any problems before they have a chance to fester. Perhaps most importantly, he will encourage his players to play with a sense of freedom and attacking flair and there will be no black marks for those who chance their arm. Lehmann's great mate and Queensland Bulls fitness coach Damian Mednis, who was previously with Irish rugby side Munster and the Queensland Reds, has seen it all at close range. "One of Boof's big abilities is how he is able to de-stress players," Mednis said. A few years ago (former Queensland captain) Chris Simpson was batting and he got out for a duck taking a wild swing at a ball. Everyone was expecting Simmo to get a big razz from Boof when he came back into the changerooms. But Boof simply said 'Good on you mate, I told you to play like that.' Boof's big no-no is batsmen who get out lbw not playing a shot. He absolutely hates it. When a batsman gets out that way he asks them how much their bat costs and they answer $900 or something. He says 'well use the bloody thing then'. Lehmann is no angel - the story of how he broke several ribs during a bicycle "riding" accident after the Bulls' fabulous 2012 Shield win has never been fully explained. But he has managed to tread a fine line between being "one of the boys" and also having a role as a disciplinarian who doesn't cop any nonsense. Several Queensland players have been on the pointy end of Lehmann's wrath when they have turned up a mere 30 seconds late for training and been sent home by a coach with steam pouring out of his ears. The players knew they had done the wrong thing and bore no grudge towards Lehmann when they were punished. In fact he was so popular in Queensland that players described it as like "a death in the family" when the news came through he would be leaving to become the Australian coach. The day after his appointment to the national job, all QC staff received an email from their former coach thanking them for their support and apologising for not being there to thank them face-to-face. He signed off the email with a heartfelt "I Love You All." Mednis says everyone knows Lehmann is "a bloody great bloke" but what is perhaps not known is his sharp and intuitive cricket brain. "Everyone should sit down and watch a game of cricket with Darren," Mednis said. He can see three plays in front of what is happening and predict pretty much exactly what is about to happen. Australian cricket is about to embark on a very different era with Lehmann steering the ship. And after some of the Titanic-style cricket calamities of the last five years, it promises to be a much more enjoyable and successful ride.