Akermanis sacked by Bulldogs

Decorated AFL forward Jason Akermanis' career with the Western Bulldogs came to a
fittingly controversial end on Wednesday - sacked six weeks out from the finals.
The outspoken former Brisbane triple-premiership player and Brownlow Medallist, who
played the last of his 77 games with the Bulldogs in round 10, spent what was most
likely the final three weeks of his AFL career playing with VFL affiliate
Williamstown.
He trained brightly with the Bulldogs on Wednesday morning, when he still hoped for
an AFL recall this weekend, coach Rodney Eade telling reporters he was "in the mix".
But immediately afterwards, club officials met with the 33-year-old to sack him,
saying his significant value as a player and marketing tool had become outweighed by
repeated breaches of trust.
"Over the last 18 months Jason has been involved in a number of incidents in which
confidential matters of the inner sanctum were leaked out and players have been
subjected to inappropriate disclosures on their behalf outside the club," president
David Smorgon said.
"In most cases, Jason has admitted these breaches and sought to remedy his
behaviour, but the breaches have continued."
Akermanis' career with the Lions ended in similarly abrupt fashion in 2006, for
similar reasons.
His issues with the Bulldogs came to a head in June, when the club suspended the
325-game star from both playing and media work over a newspaper column in which he
urged gay footballers to stay in the closet.
The Bulldogs were particularly angry that he misled them, initially saying the
column was changed without his knowledge, before backtracking.
Dogs football manager James Fantasia said Akermanis was warned at the time he was on
his "last legs" with the club, but did not heed the warning.
"It's fair to say that from that point of time it's actually got further from where
it actually was and it's probably drifted out in regard to earning that trust back,"
Fantasia said.
A recent incident aggravated tensions. Media performer Sam Newman, a colleague of
Akermanis at Melbourne radio station MTR, used the Nine Network's Footy Show to
reveal private details of a meeting where players vented their frustrations at
Akermanis.
But Fantasia said there was no particular tipping point.
"This is a pattern of behaviour and we've got to a stage, from the whole of the
club, whereby we believe that to be unsatisfactory and it's resulted in today's
meeting," he said.
He said the entire playing group, football department and club management were party
to the decision, unanimously confirmed by the board on Wednesday morning.
The Bulldogs offered Akermanis the chance to retire but he refused.
Smorgon acknowledged Akermanis had not taken the decision well and still believed he
should be in the team and they were prepared for him to vent his feelings publicly.
"We're prepared for whatever Jason wants to serve up," he said.
Akermanis is due to speak on MTR on Thursday morning.
Coach Rodney Eade said the decision was not personal but players needed complete
trust in one another to win a premiership.
"You don't have to get along with people, I've played in premierships and you're not
friendly with every player," Eade said.
"But there's a united front and a united cause and you're all going to do everything
you can to get the team to win.
"... The players had articulated that the trust wasn't rebuilt with Jason."