Former Australian captain Mark Taylor has joined the argument over whether Ricky Ponting's [Images] men paid the price for niceties on the field during the Ashes defeat last year but Shane Warne [Images] dismissed the talk as a "load of rubbish".

Taylor felt perhaps the team was being too nice and declared there was no need for the Australians to be friendly on the field this summer.

"All I would say, once the first ball is bowled, its game on and there is no need to be nice," he said.

"Once stumps are drawn, you can do whatever you like. You can go out and drink with them, pat them on the back, do whatever," Taylor said.

"That's how I like the game and how it should be played."

But Warne shrugged off the comments, saying the players were just showing sportsmanship.

"I think that's a load of rubbish," Warne was quoted as saying in 'Herald Sun' on Wednesday.

"I haven't been too friendly when I have played Test cricket for 15 years. That's well and truly been documented. I wasn't very friendly, but I showed sportsmanship," the champion leg-spinner said.

"When someone played well and scored a good hundred, we shook hands and clapped. I don't see the big deal in that."

Australia's relationship with Michael Vaughan's [Images] side during the Ashes loss has been one of the burning issues since the 2-1 series defeat.

Several former Australian players including Allan Border [Images], Mark Waugh [Images] and Merv Hughes have said Ponting's men were too friendly and lacked their usual aggressiveness.