As one of the most respected voices in Australian cricket, Ricky Ponting's views are considered important.
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Announced as the Hobart Hurricanes' Head of Strategy on Thursday, the Launceston-born 47-year-old had his say on a variety of things.
Ponting on re-joining the Hurricanes
"For me to pull back on a purple shirt again fills me with pride as well. I haven't lived in the state for a long time but every game of cricket I played was for Tasmania or for the Hobart Hurricanes.
"I'm obviously Tasmanian through and through and I want to be able to give back to a state and a cricket organisation that's given me so much from the age of 12 or 13 when the junior cricket stuff started to where I am now.
"The thing that held me back was whenever I tend to do something, I want to be fully involved and the biggest challenge that [chief executive] Dom [Baker] and I had was finding how I could give as much time as I possibly could to do the best job that I possibly could for the Hurricanes and Tasmania."
Ponting on the team's strength
"If you look at the players that we've kept in [D'Arcy] Short, [Matthew] Wade, [Ben] McDermott, [Tim] David, [Riley] Meredith and [Nathan] Ellis, there won't be many other teams in Australia that will boast a line-up anywhere near as strong as that.
"With the other coaches, to be able to build the other players that we need around the core players that we've got is going to be a really exciting thing to be a part of."
Ponting on Tim Paine
"I've talked to Dom and a few of the other people around about what I would like to be able to achieve with the Hurricanes is to bring as many great Tasmanian people back around the franchise as possible and I think Tim Paine fits perfectly into that mold.
"Whenever and if he's ever ready to walk back and put another purple shirt on, I'm sure lots of Tasmanians would like to see him involved."
Ponting on the BBL's future
"I think there already have been challenges [with high-quality international players] in the last couple of years.
"I think most teams in the BBL have struggled to lock down overseas players for the entire tournament, we must have had five or six different overseas players in the tournament last year, so that's one of the great challenges.
"The other challenge the BBL has obviously is trying to get the Australian national players back involved in the tournament. We talk about it all the time, so Cricket Australia must be talking about it on a daily basis - how are we going to make it work?
"They haven't found a solution yet but I know from my own heart of hearts even just as a cricket fan and someone who commentates the game, I'd love to see the best overseas playing in this tournament and certainly the Australian national players playing in this tournament as well.
"Until that happens, we won't ever have the best product that we can have ... hopefully with what we are trying to do here with the Hurricanes, putting the best coaching group we possibly can, hopefully we make the Hobart Hurricanes a place that the players want to play."
Ponting on the missing ingredient
"I don't think there's been much as far as the playing list is concerned and to be totally honest, maybe some more output from the overseas players we've brought in is probably the standout thing.
"If you look at the guys that we've got there, the names that I've mentioned, they've all played for Australia in the last couple of years and Tim David will I think eventually as well with what he's done over the last 12 or 18 months.
"I think that's going to be the big challenge with the draft system that's coming into place this year, trying to attract and therefore actually get the best overseas players that we need for specific roles.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's not about trying to attract the best name, it's the player that we need in our squad or in starting XI that's a chance of winning the most games for us considering the players that we've already got locked in.
"I've had a quick look at how a team might line up over the last couple of days and if you can bring in a high-quality overseas spinner and someone that can bat in the top order and potentially bowl another couple of overs of spin, I think that would be the place I would be starting as far as the list is concerned."
Ponting on Chris Lynn
"I'm sure his name will come up but if I look at Wade, McDermott, Short, David, I'm not sure that I'm picking Chris Lynn ahead of any of those guys and what we've got here.
"They are all established Hurricanes players that have been here for a while, Tim David's just had the one season here but I would like to stick with what we've got and get the best out of the guys that we've got rather than adding too much to the players that have been left out of other BBL franchises."
Ponting on T20 cricket
"The bottom line of T20 cricket is that you've got to be getting the best out of your best players more often than not.
"Just creating an environment where people are happy, people are comfortable but people are being pushed to get better on a daily basis.
"The T20 game is an impossible game to play well unless you're in complete control of your skills."
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