Bob Simpson accompanied the side as an assistant manager/coach. He had been invited by Fred Bennett, the head of the Australian Cricket Board, to see if Simpson was interested in taking on the job full-time. Steve Waugh later wrote that:I'm not sure who got the bigger shock during the first couple of training sessions on that tour: Simmo, due to the team's low intensity work ethic, or the players, who had never been exposed to his level of passion at practice.