Henry's time with Wales has brought improvement in unsustainable spurts, rather than a steady drive towards parity with England, but Gatland is sure that his quality will shine through once he begins working with players of greater quality.
Gatland recalled: 'I was playing for Waikato back in New Zealand while Graham was coaching the Auckland Blues.
'He had fantastic success with the Blues in Super 12 and then he had a great run initially with Wales. He was always a clever coach.
'Probably now he's a bit like myself. You don't have quite the quality of player you can get your hands on in New Zealand, and you're still trying to develop players, having to work really hard to get the best out of your team.
'It's about preparing a side with a game plan that hopefully will give you the results. And once he gets hold of the Lions, he will have the quality needed.
'I think there was some great rugby played in this Six Nations. I think the competition, in the past, would have been seen by people in the southern hemisphere as pretty dull and boring, with slow and static rugby.
'But it's really come on, lots of points are being scored, tries are being scored and I think that's important.
'With the quality performances seen in the European Cup and the Six Nations, the way the players have developed - that will all be good for the northern hemisphere and help close the gap on the southern hemisphere.'
We'll find out soon enough just how much - or how little - that gap has narrowed.
