THINK if you will of the characteristics that make a Bulldog an impressive animal.

The face that only a mother can love, the short stature but big presence, the never-say-die attitude and an arse compatible to that of a small car.

It be a tad harsh, but not altogether unfair to say these characteristics could also describe Bulldog Jason Akermanis.

Dominating one of Melbourne’s newspapers on Thursday morning was a story about the size of Akermanis’ backside and how its size correlates to his on-field performance.

The Age has reported that the Bulldogs have put Akermanis on a weight-gain diet to bring him back to the solidly built star that featured in three Brisbane Lions flags.

“The thing I kept on saying to Jason was that my really vivid memories of him when he was at the Brisbane Lions at the peak of his powers was that he was this stocky, big-bummed very powerful kind of guy. And he’d lost that,” Bulldogs head of physical performance Cameron Falloon said.

Falloon told The Age that Akermanis had slimmed down when he arrived at the Bulldogs at the end of 2006.

“There was certainly a flow-on affect. It has impact on your strength training which impacts on your kicking because it impacts on your stabilisers and it affects your power,” he said.

Falloon says Akermanis is starting to return to his best, which is due in no small part to his expanding derriere.

“After a game he’ll have his own little bag of lollies that he weighs. He’ll have a packet of salt-and-vinegar chips. It needs to be the right weight of course. But he is still lean enough and the extra energy is helping him to maintain the muscle mass so when he’s running on empty he’s not burning hard-earned valuable muscle.”