Voss says 'Dogs made right call on Aka - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Voss says 'Dogs made right call on Aka

By Roger Vaughan 25/07/2010 03:35:34 PM Comments (0)

Brisbane coach Michael Voss has strongly backed the AFL sacking of Jason Akermanis, saying the Western Bulldogs "categorically" made the right call.

Voss was Lions captain in 2006 when Akermanis also left that club in messy circumstances and joined the Bulldogs the following year.

The Bulldogs dramatically sacked Akermanis last Wednesday, a few weeks after they had suspended him because of circumstances surrounding a controversial newspaper column he had written.

"I was sitting back, I saw him get suspended from the football club and I thought 'that's it, it's over', because we were in the exact same situation," Voss told Channel Seven's Game Day.

"It went due-south very quickly - it was a bit of a tough time for the footy club and I reckon the Bulldogs have categorically made the right decision."

Also this weekend, former Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews said Brisbane would have sacked Akermanis had they lost the 2003 grand final.

Voss was asked on Sunday what it was about Akermanis that could make him such a difficult player to handle within a football club.

"I'm certainly not going to nail the coffin, but ... a lot of people don't think you manage it and you're not going through and having discussions, you don't counsel," Voss said.

"(But) you have all those, on a weekly and sometimes daily basis and the important thing is you have to be able to maintain that team (tack).

"That means being able to keep information within the football club, that is categoric.

"It means being able to put some of your own self-interest aside and being able to invest in the team.

"We felt we lost that (with Akermanis) and that's why we made the decision we did."

Voss stressed that no single incident would have cost Akermanis his spot on the Bulldogs list.

"I listen to some of the radio interviews and it's not one thing - we've got to get away from the fact that it's one event that happens," Voss said.

"It's a series of events over a long period of time, some we know publicly and some you don't know, that happened privately."

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