Why Akermanis won’t coach an AFL Football Team
I wrote a post the other week about why I thought Nathan Buckley would most certainly coach an AFL Football team and how he just commands respect when ever he speaks etc. I just don’t think Jason Akermanis has that.
No Buckley or Voss
Yes Jason Akermanis will have had a decorated career winning 3 Premierships at Brisbane and a Brownlow Medal when he finishes playing, but I just don’t see the leadership and directional influence on the ground from him that a guy like Buckley or a Michael Voss for that matter display, not that that one factor makes a good coach but you are going to lead a group of men into battle week in week out and I think that is a quality that a coach should have.
On the other side he is a very self confident man and confident in his own abilities and would have no doubt learnt a lot from Lethal Leigh Matthews both positive and negative, and Rodney Eade, two very different but good coaches in their own right. But the question I have is could Akermanis be taken seriously?
I think Akermanis would make a good assistant coach taking a bit of a back seat and focusing on a specialised area like the midfield or forward groups, but I just don’t think he would be the type of person an AFL Club would want as their senior coach. I mean clubs are trying their hardest to avoid any controversy and Akermanis may just bring a bit of that with him. Can you imagine how much extra money clubs would have to have in the bank to account for the comments he would come out with in the heat of the moment in press conferences resulting in fines from the AFL, mind you that would make the dull press conferences more entertaining.
Not a coach but a great player
While it is refreshing to hear him speak his mind and express himself as only Jason Akermanis can, which you don’t get that much of in today’s football environment for me he just does not come across as a man that has that hard nosed leadership type quality that you see in most coaches. But time will tell.
Even though I don’t think he would make it as a senior coach he is an exceptional player and one that could turn the Bulldogs disappointing end to the 2007 season around next year. He has indicated that he was maybe trying a bit hard last year trying to prove himself at a new club and become to light to play at his high standards. He has put on 10kg and his body is feeling great. He needs to step up in 2008 if the Bulldogs are going to feature in September.
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Akermanis has been a great player undoubtedly, however, for me, he just doesn’t fit the coaching mould. At the core of the issue, I would be surprised if an AFL club would sign him because he needs to be a leader, not a trouble maker. A good AFL coach is a visionary, not an individual fighting the system consistently.