FLAMBOYANT Western Bulldogs forward Jason Akermanis has confirmed that next season will be his last, and that he wants to reach the 300-game milestone with the support of the club.
Joining the Bulldogs in a trade at the end of 2006, Akermanis' looming milestone is one of few honours awaiting the Brownlow Medallist and Brisbane Lions triple premiership player after 14 years at the level.
Playing all 25 games in 2008 to take his career total to 292, Akermanis told Friday's The Age that "anything over that (300) will be a bonus".
"I want to play the eight as fast as I can to try to get to 300," he said. "There's no doubt I can play, it's just whether they (the club) can just help me with my training a bit and not sort of make me train and do everything.
"I need a bit of help there."
The 31-year-old revealed he had a "negatively based" review with senior coach Rodney Eade, which has since been settled, and that he was unsure whether the club had confidence he could reach the milestone.
"Certainly in my last year, I'll play as much as I can, but I might say, 'I'm pretty tired this week', and I'm sure they'll be happy to say, 'Have the weekend off, don't travel or we'll put this young guy in' and then everyone will win.
"There's nothing worse than thinking they don't want you to play when that's not the case," he added of his discussion with Eade. "I went back and had a chat to him (Eade) after and just sort of clarified it."
Akermanis also said that his desire to continue his media work, a topic which created friction in his final season with the Lions, was stronger in the knowledge that his career was ending.
"This being my last year, I think it's really important to be doing work because footy's not forever and then I want to set it up afterwards and that's more sort of my goal," he said.
"They've got a different philosophy on it, as footy clubs do, so I'm just trying to work with them on that one. We'll see how we can resolve it."