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Critics bleat, but turnaround in form isn't far away
Jason Akermanis | August 13, 2008 12:00am
ALL OF a sudden, the vultures are circling and the wolves are at the door.
Even an old teammate Luke Darcy has joined in.
It's what happens when a player who has been around as long as I have has a slow month.
A month ago, it was all fantastic. Now it seems everyone's wanting to get into us.
In All-Australian contention one month, almost being given the boot the next.
On Sunday against North Melbourne, the plan was to give me a reasonably light game.
After a quiet first half, I was sent back to play in defence on Brent Harvey.
I immediately thought: "If he towels me up, I'm in a lot of strife."
It wasn't that hard to focus. I had to do a job to help the side.
Harvey had helped himself to 18 touches by halftime and looked dangerous.
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As the coach Rodney Eade revealed afterwards, I had one foot back in the VFL with Williamstown.
It was a courageous move from the coaching staff and I believe I made a solid contribution after the long break as we, as a team, also improved.
I wasn't surprised Rodney mentioned how close I was to being dropped.
He'd mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. That's what happens.
You also have to accept the media are going to criticise you.
I picked up the Herald Sun on Monday morning to discover "Darce" had told SEN listeners I needed a spell.
"You can't carry someone whose body language is the way it is today," he said.
"His second efforts are non-existent. When you turn up and show you don't want to be out there, you have a spell."
Darce gets paid to do it and I'll probably be the same when I finish up. At times I'll have to give it to former teammates.
But it can look easy from the stands and Darce, as much as anyone, knows how tough it can be.
He was probably lucky to have a spot at times last year, coming back from knee reconstructions.
You take it on board, but I can't agree on the body language.
It is always the same. I am always careful to keep that as consistent as possible.
It is very easy to say, "He's useless", without adding what the player can do to turn it around.
The knockers started after the Geelong loss a few weeks ago, when another old teammate Michael Voss had a crack.
Vossy wrote that I never played well against the Cats. He doesn't have a great memory.
The most recent outings haven't been special, but I have played some really good games against Geelong over the years.
You just have to get on with it and not worry too much about what people are saying.
What has gone wrong, you might ask?
That's not an easy one to answer. It's not something simple like an injury. You can't say it's mental either.
The neurons and the muscles in the body are the same. I've got some little niggles, like anyone, but that's no excuse.
A couple of weeks back, I probably started working too hard midweek to get myself out of a hole. That's fixed now.
It still hurts, which means I still have the passion to play. If it didn't, I would call it a day.
I just need to hang in there, as does the club.
As a club, we've done so well, but the past two weeks our starts have been very poor.
We haven't been as strong around the centre. The ball isn't coming into the forward line like it usually does, either.
We head to my old stomping ground of Brisbane on Saturday night.
What better place to get back on the horse, and keep at it, than at the Gabba?
Jason Akermanis | August 13, 2008 12:00am
ALL OF a sudden, the vultures are circling and the wolves are at the door.
Even an old teammate Luke Darcy has joined in.
It's what happens when a player who has been around as long as I have has a slow month.
A month ago, it was all fantastic. Now it seems everyone's wanting to get into us.
In All-Australian contention one month, almost being given the boot the next.
On Sunday against North Melbourne, the plan was to give me a reasonably light game.
After a quiet first half, I was sent back to play in defence on Brent Harvey.
I immediately thought: "If he towels me up, I'm in a lot of strife."
It wasn't that hard to focus. I had to do a job to help the side.
Harvey had helped himself to 18 touches by halftime and looked dangerous.
Related Links
As the coach Rodney Eade revealed afterwards, I had one foot back in the VFL with Williamstown.
It was a courageous move from the coaching staff and I believe I made a solid contribution after the long break as we, as a team, also improved.
I wasn't surprised Rodney mentioned how close I was to being dropped.
He'd mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. That's what happens.
You also have to accept the media are going to criticise you.
I picked up the Herald Sun on Monday morning to discover "Darce" had told SEN listeners I needed a spell.
"You can't carry someone whose body language is the way it is today," he said.
"His second efforts are non-existent. When you turn up and show you don't want to be out there, you have a spell."
Darce gets paid to do it and I'll probably be the same when I finish up. At times I'll have to give it to former teammates.
But it can look easy from the stands and Darce, as much as anyone, knows how tough it can be.
He was probably lucky to have a spot at times last year, coming back from knee reconstructions.
You take it on board, but I can't agree on the body language.
It is always the same. I am always careful to keep that as consistent as possible.
It is very easy to say, "He's useless", without adding what the player can do to turn it around.
The knockers started after the Geelong loss a few weeks ago, when another old teammate Michael Voss had a crack.
Vossy wrote that I never played well against the Cats. He doesn't have a great memory.
The most recent outings haven't been special, but I have played some really good games against Geelong over the years.
You just have to get on with it and not worry too much about what people are saying.
What has gone wrong, you might ask?
That's not an easy one to answer. It's not something simple like an injury. You can't say it's mental either.
The neurons and the muscles in the body are the same. I've got some little niggles, like anyone, but that's no excuse.
A couple of weeks back, I probably started working too hard midweek to get myself out of a hole. That's fixed now.
It still hurts, which means I still have the passion to play. If it didn't, I would call it a day.
I just need to hang in there, as does the club.
As a club, we've done so well, but the past two weeks our starts have been very poor.
We haven't been as strong around the centre. The ball isn't coming into the forward line like it usually does, either.
We head to my old stomping ground of Brisbane on Saturday night.
What better place to get back on the horse, and keep at it, than at the Gabba?
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