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Roos defends Crouch on Akermanis tag
22 March 2004 Herald Sun
Tim Morrissey
SYDNEY coach Paul Roos was quick to defend the Swans' top taggers after Brisbane Lions star Jason Akermanis launched an all-out attack on Jared Crouch.
Akermanis, the AFL's master of the outrageous, said the tactics employed by the Swans midfielder were unsporting and bordered on cheating.
But Roos said Akermanis's comments on Crouch's blanketing tactics were way off the mark.
"We always talk to (umpires' boss) Jeff Gieschen and (umpires' coach) Rowan Sawers about our players and they have both been quite complimentary in terms of Jared Crouch's and Brett Kirk's tagging," Roos said.
The latest attempt by Akermanis to pressure the league into making rules against tagging has fallen on deaf ears.
"There's no law against players tagging an opponent," Gieschen said. "But there is a law against players who hold, who block, who scrag to stop their opponent getting to where the football is.
"So unless you are doing those things, (a tagger) is not breaking any laws.
"We cannot award free kicks against players who are very good at applying pressure."
Roos believes Akermanis should keep his mouth shut.
"So many guys in AFL football get tagged and most of them just accept it as part of being a good player," Roos said.
"Most players accept it but obviously Aker can't. You never hear from Michael Voss or Simon Black or Nigel Lappin. (They) get tagged.
"You never hear from Ben Cousins, Nathan Buckley or Paul Williams.
"But you take Aker's remarks with a grain of salt.
"You've got to understand Aker . . . it's really Aker just being Aker."
Speaking on Channel 7's AFL Confidential on Saturday night, Akermanis had once again singled out Crouch, his likely opponent in Round 1, as the worst type of tagger in the competition.
"Pretty much most of the players I play on every week will break the rules and I don't think they are very sportsmanlike at all. They cheat," Akermanis said.
"The worst at it is probably Jared Crouch, I'm looking forward to playing him in Round 1.
"The ball will be right next to you and . . . he will be looking at me, the player."
Akermanis has clearly forgotten Crouch's crucial fourth-quarter goal from 50m on a tough angle at the SCG in Round 7 that sealed Brisbane's first loss of 2003.
22 March 2004 Herald Sun
Tim Morrissey
SYDNEY coach Paul Roos was quick to defend the Swans' top taggers after Brisbane Lions star Jason Akermanis launched an all-out attack on Jared Crouch.
Akermanis, the AFL's master of the outrageous, said the tactics employed by the Swans midfielder were unsporting and bordered on cheating.
But Roos said Akermanis's comments on Crouch's blanketing tactics were way off the mark.
"We always talk to (umpires' boss) Jeff Gieschen and (umpires' coach) Rowan Sawers about our players and they have both been quite complimentary in terms of Jared Crouch's and Brett Kirk's tagging," Roos said.
The latest attempt by Akermanis to pressure the league into making rules against tagging has fallen on deaf ears.
"There's no law against players tagging an opponent," Gieschen said. "But there is a law against players who hold, who block, who scrag to stop their opponent getting to where the football is.
"So unless you are doing those things, (a tagger) is not breaking any laws.
"We cannot award free kicks against players who are very good at applying pressure."
Roos believes Akermanis should keep his mouth shut.
"So many guys in AFL football get tagged and most of them just accept it as part of being a good player," Roos said.
"Most players accept it but obviously Aker can't. You never hear from Michael Voss or Simon Black or Nigel Lappin. (They) get tagged.
"You never hear from Ben Cousins, Nathan Buckley or Paul Williams.
"But you take Aker's remarks with a grain of salt.
"You've got to understand Aker . . . it's really Aker just being Aker."
Speaking on Channel 7's AFL Confidential on Saturday night, Akermanis had once again singled out Crouch, his likely opponent in Round 1, as the worst type of tagger in the competition.
"Pretty much most of the players I play on every week will break the rules and I don't think they are very sportsmanlike at all. They cheat," Akermanis said.
"The worst at it is probably Jared Crouch, I'm looking forward to playing him in Round 1.
"The ball will be right next to you and . . . he will be looking at me, the player."
Akermanis has clearly forgotten Crouch's crucial fourth-quarter goal from 50m on a tough angle at the SCG in Round 7 that sealed Brisbane's first loss of 2003.
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