Akermanis attended Brisbane’s Nudgee College at high school, a renowned rugby union breeding ground.
Aker defied the peer group pressure and taunts to stick with footy, as former school mate Jamie Charman recalled on a trip back to his old stomping ground for a game of recreational footy with the under-13s.
“Jason Akermanis was actually in grade twelve when I was in year eight,” Charman said.
“When he was here, I remember seeing this guy walk around with this AFL ball, I just couldn’t believe it.”
“Aker was carrying around the ball and they used to grab his ball and kick it over the fence.”
Rather than see Aker as an outsider, though, Charman’s future premiership teammate was an inspiration.
“I didn’t know until later on that he played for the Brisbane Bears at that stage, so to see someone playing AFL in such a rugby dominated school, it was pretty awesome.”
“They were trying to push me into rugby so I was too scared to bring up anything about AFL.”
The school eventually welcomed Australian football as a sport for students, and Charman was one of the few to give it a go, playing as captain of the team in his last two years at high school.
Charman was picked up at number 29 in the 2000 AFL National Draft and has gone on to be one of the Lions key players despite a 2008 season plagued by injury.
He makes regular trips back to Nudgee College which is now producing an impressive line of junior talent, perhaps even to follow in the footsteps of the school’s two most famous AFL products.
“It’s always good to come back to the old school,” Charman said.
