Mark Baker.
IT did not take long for the wits to poke fun at the four Australian cricketers who had been dropped for failing to complete an assignment set by the coach.
"Pup ate my homework," one headline claimed while another site showed a confused Shane Watson Photoshopped onto a schoolboy's body in front of a blackboard.
After the dismal effort against India in the second Test, coach Mickey Arthur asked his players to come up with a plan on how they could improve technically and mentally and also improve team dynamics.
Vice-captain Watson as well as James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja failed to make a presentation and were dropped for the third Test.
Arthur said the decision was a culmination of minor indiscretions such as being late for meetings, having high skinfolds, wearing the wrong uniforms, talking back or giving attitude.
In a sporting environment involving drug taking, match fixing and sex scandals; failing to do homework, being tardy or wearing the wrong tracky daks hardly seems a capital offence.
But it speaks to the professionalism of the playing group and what is expected of modern athletes; be it playing, training, recovery, media and charity work or self- evaluation.
What Arthur did is what many of us would like to do in our own workplaces or sporting groups - draw a line in the sand that identifies unacceptable behaviour and outlines the consequences of it.
Because culture is an incredibly hard thing to change.
Sydney Swans transformed its culture with the "Bloods", a group of senior players who set a standard for the side and praised the 1 per centers, those efforts that often go unnoticed but can be the difference between success and failure.
I've played soccer at a relatively social level for 18 years and there is nothing worse than working your butt off on the training track while a team-mate sits on the sideline having a rest. If I'm hurting for the team, then I expect my team-mates to be too.
It causes resentment and friction, neither of which is a driver of success.
And it's the same thing in workplaces. There will always be workers who turn up late, don't have the same output or are generally hard to deal with. If those behaviours are left to fester then they can become poisonous.
I don't agree with all Cricket Australia's moves: the rotation policy must destroy any chance to build a cohesive unit that puts the team ahead of the individual.
But here is the chance to develop a new generation of cricketers that know their roles and responsibilities.
Arthur's decision was widely criticised by past players. But most of those players lived through an era where they all shared the one goal: to play for Australia and be the best.
There were no distractions like the IPL or Big Bash League to lure relatively inexperienced cricketers with large sums of money.
With those external pressures, it's no wonder a strong hand is needed to rein in egos with disparate interests.