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Mark Stevens
WESTERN Bulldogs star Adam Cooney has launched a spirited defence of teammate Brian Lake, slamming "fickle" critics of the struggling full-back.
Cooney said Lake had shown loyalty, putting the club ahead of himself, by playing last year's finals series with injuries.
After a string of post-season operations, he has struggled to reach the fitness level required to play AFL, but the Brownlow medallist has dismissed talk his close friend is lazy.
"A lot of people have been canning him this year, which I think is pretty unfair," Cooney said.
"Kicking a bloke when he's down is not great, but it's a pretty fickle industry, footy."
He said any supporters who had turned on Lake had short memories.
"He hurt his shoulder in one of the finals last year, then his knee and his hip," Cooney said.
"Come finals time, you do anything you can to get out there. To play through that, doing the team thing, is great by him.
"Hopefully the fans who have turned remember he was doing it pretty tough during the finals series last year."
Lake will miss another game at VFL level this weekend with a calf strain, but the Dogs remain hopeful he can return for Williamstown and make a late bid to make an impact at AFL level.
"I think everyone, including him, is thinking, 'What happened? Where have I gone wrong?'," Cooney said.
"He's done it pretty tough, but everyone at the club is supporting him."
Cooney can empathise with Lake, given he has endured his battle with knee soreness, attracting criticism for not working hard enough.
"It's the same thing as me, I suppose, people branding him lazy and saying he's got the wrong attitude - which is not right," he said.
"The thing that was letting him down was his body. Once your body is letting you down, it is hard to do the things you know you can do.
"It is similar to me. I can understand his frustration. He wants to do the things he was doing last year, but at the moment his body is not allowing him to do that.
"Obviously, he's pretty frustrated and he gets down on himself a bit."
WESTERN Bulldogs star Adam Cooney has launched a spirited defence of teammate Brian Lake, slamming "fickle" critics of the struggling full-back.
Cooney said Lake had shown loyalty, putting the club ahead of himself, by playing last year's finals series with injuries.
After a string of post-season operations, he has struggled to reach the fitness level required to play AFL, but the Brownlow medallist has dismissed talk his close friend is lazy.
"A lot of people have been canning him this year, which I think is pretty unfair," Cooney said.
"Kicking a bloke when he's down is not great, but it's a pretty fickle industry, footy."
He said any supporters who had turned on Lake had short memories.
"He hurt his shoulder in one of the finals last year, then his knee and his hip," Cooney said.
"Come finals time, you do anything you can to get out there. To play through that, doing the team thing, is great by him.
"Hopefully the fans who have turned remember he was doing it pretty tough during the finals series last year."
Lake will miss another game at VFL level this weekend with a calf strain, but the Dogs remain hopeful he can return for Williamstown and make a late bid to make an impact at AFL level.
"I think everyone, including him, is thinking, 'What happened? Where have I gone wrong?'," Cooney said.
"He's done it pretty tough, but everyone at the club is supporting him."
Cooney can empathise with Lake, given he has endured his battle with knee soreness, attracting criticism for not working hard enough.
"It's the same thing as me, I suppose, people branding him lazy and saying he's got the wrong attitude - which is not right," he said.
"The thing that was letting him down was his body. Once your body is letting you down, it is hard to do the things you know you can do.
"It is similar to me. I can understand his frustration. He wants to do the things he was doing last year, but at the moment his body is not allowing him to do that.
"Obviously, he's pretty frustrated and he gets down on himself a bit."
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