Akermanis raised the ire of the Lions by talking publicly about his strained relationships with a number of key Lions personnel including chairman Tony Kelly, former teammates Chris Scott and Justin Leppitsch, and the current Lions coach Michael Voss.
Sitting next to another personality with whom he clashed during his time at the club – former coach Leigh Matthews – the Bulldogs forward defended his comments on BigPond Sports Weekend, saying he never intended them to be taken as an attack or character assassination.
Akermanis and Leppitsch had a falling out when the now assistant coach did not attend Akermanis’ wedding.
“I was asked to reflect ... and an issue came up regarding a former teammate of mine, Justin Leppitsch,” Akermanis said.
“The question was to give an example of something negative that has happened while you have been successful.”
Akermanis, who left the club at the end of 2006 after a personality clash with coach Leigh Matthews and some members of the Lions playing group, acknowledged the forum he used to air his grievances was inappropriate.
“Being a teammate, I got on really well with ‘Leppa’ but after that incident it really soured our relationship,” he said
“That was probably not the best forum for that, but I couldn’t really help not mentioning that really strong memory.”
Akermanis also spoke of his final days under his former mentor, and was quick to confirm that Matthews had never forced him to play under duress even when injured.
“Leigh knew I had an adductor problem – It was causing me a great deal of pain and when I was playing I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do,” he said.
“I didn’t like the way that was reported – I didn’t think it was necessary.”
Akermanis comments were reiterated by Matthews, who said the medical staff always had the final call on players during his tenure as coach.
“If a player thinks he was available, the medical staff had to clear him,” he said.
“In my 20 years’ of coaching I have never overridden the medical staff.”
Matthews defended the Lions’ response to Akermanis’ comments, saying clubs had a right to get behind their own, aggressively if need be.
“It was the basic principle: if anyone has a ‘pot shot’ at one of our people, we are going to defend that person,” Matthews said.
“What people don’t realise is the most important thing at a football club is what principles you are putting across to your players.”
“It was a principle of supporting their people, particularly Justin Leppitsch – those perceptions have to be protected and that’s what the Lions did.”
