Bye Bye Aker

[ShockOfHair]

Classic narcissist. Hysterically funny that he likens himself to Kevin Rudd. I'm going to miss him. I always enjoyed the extra colour he bought to the greater AFL world and don't imagine that we've seen the end of him. The comments around his VFL opponent were a step to far IMO so he definitely needed to pull his head in.

He's definitely a one in a million in terms of talent - some of his feats were incredible.

I do have a good story about Aker so he's not all bad. My brother in law manages a womens AFL rep team. Last year they were touring Vic and were training at the dogs facilities post the seniors main session.
Aker hung back and had a watch. He then offered to run some skills sessions with the girls and also offered to turn up and give a game address for their game. Which he did all unprompted and off his own back with a heap of doggie goodies to share around.
The girls were absolutely blown away by his generosity.

I could believe that. Seems to be a bloke who is thoughtful and generous as well as stubbornly stupid.

I'd love to see Hall front him on the Footy Show. It won't happen, but there'd be a lot of pots, kettles and black.
Nine expects Barry Hall to come face-to-face with Aka

[swansrock4eva]

It was volatile enough on there even without Hally!

[ShockOfHair]

I'm sorry I missed it. NO Footy SHow here (normally a positive).

[goswannie14]

It was volatile enough on there even without Hally!

I actually thought Aker came off looking pretty good and the CEO of the club (who wasn't even around tyhe club whilst all of this happened) looked a bit of a goose. I think it was piss weak that Smorgon, who was bagging Aker on Radio all day, didn't have the guts to turn up.

From appearances, Aker was sackjed for soimething that might or might not happrn in the future, and Brad Johnson was the main instigator.

I have now gone from wanting them to win the flag to hoping they get knocked out in straight sets.

Interesting that the crowd was rtight behind Aker and fairly sceptical of what the Bulldogs CEO had to say.

On a side note, I have never seen Sam so emotional and angry on set.

[Jewels]

I actually thought Aker came off looking pretty good and the CEO of the club (who wasn't even around tyhe club whilst all of this happened) looked a bit of a goose. I think it was piss weak that Smorgon, who was bagging Aker on Radio all day, didn't have the guts to turn up.

From appearances, Aker was sackjed for soimething that might or might not happrn in the future, and Brad Johnson was the main instigator.

I have now gone from wanting them to win the flag to hoping they get knocked out in straight sets.

Interesting that the crowd was rtight behind Aker and fairly sceptical of what the Bulldogs CEO had to say.

On a side note, I have never seen Sam so emotional and angry on set.

Totally agree with your sentiments GS14. I've never been an Acker fan, in fact I detested him (the mouth not the footy), but in my opinion he came out last night certainly looking like he has been treated unfairly.
I loved the back pedalling of Rose when he was asked if it would have happened if Acker had been in form.

[swansrock4eva]

My thoughts exactly GS14. I did not like that CEO one bit actually - pompous git! I think the crowd was spot on in supporting Aker! Normally I'm not a huge fan of him, but he made some extremely good points, especially about copping feedback with good grace even if he doesn't agree with it, and also the "do the crime, do the time" issues, and there was no comeback to them, just this excuse of "well the players don't trust you" over and over again. As to Brad Johnson... bloody hell I'd never picked him to be as two-faced as he seems to have been in this instance! What a wussy douchebag to do it on the sly and then not even talk to the bloke he's just stabbed in the back!

And I am glad Sam was emotional - he has been part of all of this, but I'm glad he stood up and accepted that.

I think there's a lot more going on at Whitten Oval than even came out last night though, and it's certainly not an organisation I would want to be involved with...

[goswannie14]

Totally agree with your sentiments GS14. I've never been an Acker fan, in fact I detested him (the mouth not the footy), but in my opinion he came out last night certainly looking like he has been treated unfairly.
I loved the back pedalling of Rose when he was asked if it would have happened if Acker had been in form.

Jewels, I also thought Rose was trying to distance himself from the decision. He noted he wasn't there whilst the decision was made, and that he had no input into the decision making of the football department. He was also very thin on some of the details.

I reckon Smorgon was scared of having to seeing Aker face to face, so told Rose he had to do it (I am speculating on this last phrase.)

[Triple B]

Jewels, I also thought Rose was trying to distance himself from the decision. He noted he wasn't there whilst the decision was made, and that he had no input into the decision making of the football department. He was also very thin on some of the details.

I reckon Smorgon was scared of having to seeing Aker face to face, so told Rose he had to do it (I am speculating on this last phrase.)

I agree with that GS14. It certainly appears the CEO had nothing whatsoever to do with any of this, but he was the poor bugger who got shipped off to Ch9 to defend the club in what appears to have been a bit of a messy, sly saga.

I felt a bit sorry for him and reckon that Smorgon, who found time to hawk himself around the various media outlets of Melbourne during the day, is a weak bludger for not having the balls to front the show in person.

He had no problems turning up to anything when the Doggies were rattling the tins a few years ago when they were going under. Weak.

[Damien]

I don't know why the Bulldogs bothered sending anyone. They made their decision, explained it in the press conference and should leave it at that.

I think once they made the decision to protect Barry Hall, they wanted to save face with the Footy Show for publicity reasons etc and sent the CEO.

[Robbo]

Well it looks like Aker was royally shafted by a bunch of cowards who were following their own agendas. He was sacked for the sole reason of apparently leaking info to the media about his non-selection a few weeks ago, but the only problem is that he didn't leak it, and it looks like Rodney Eade was the one who did.

Brad Johnson called a player meeting when Aker wasn't there and apparently found that every player on the list wanted Aker gone. This has also been found to be incorrect because one player who disagreed with the decision to get rid of Aker has kept quiet because he is out of contract at the end of the year. There are bound to be more players who disagree but aren't telling anyone.

That Rose bloke said there were numerous incidents which led to the sacking, but after 3 days he hasn't been able to produce anything resembling evidence.

Brad Johnson, Rodney Eade and David Smorgon have come off looking a hell of a lot worse than Aker. Rohan Smith said Aker wouldn't be remembered for the flags he played in but instead the controversies he was caught up in, well the reason Smith isn't remembered for the flags he played in is because he didn't play in any.

I hope the Bulldogs season goes up in flames. I always wanted Brad Johnson to play in a premiership, not anymore.

[aardvark]

Doesn't really matter who was right and who was wrong, the bottom line is that the Doggies will not recover from this for a good while because of the way it was done.

[lwoggardner]

Can't believe the posts in this thread that accept Aker at his word - Brad Johnson did this, the letter says that, X players within the club have sent me texts of support so couldn't possibly have "unanimously" decided. Everything Aker says overstates things in his favour and conveniently leaves out the details of negatives. I don't think that's a negative for Aker in particular, just a natural human reaction to his current circumstance.

I thought Rose did a reasonable job. The rational, emotionally detached CEO type was exactly the right person to front, but of course there's nothing easier than getting the sheep to bleat about those fat-cat corporate types running footy clubs who apparently don't have to work to earn their salaries. The "different story if he's in form" question was a good probe by Lyon for entertainment value but ultimately hypothetical. Aker's out of form by his own admission. Rose choosing not to comment was the only thing he could do. If he makes any comment about form then he'd rightly be taken to task as being unqualified to make that assessment.

It was great TV and fun to watch Sam's brain boiling but I think I'll let the dust settle a little further before chucking Brad Johnson and Rocket into the "not worth spitting at" pile.

[Robbo]

He didn't overstate anything. The facts are that the decision was not unanimous and that Aker wasn't guilty of what they sacked him for.

I've lost all respect for Brad Johnson. He didn't even have the decency to be honest with Aker.

[ScottH]

He didn't overstate anything. The facts are that the decision was not unanimous and that Aker wasn't guilty of what they sacked him for.

I've lost all respect for Brad Johnson. He didn't even have the decency to be honest with Aker.

According to Aker.

[Damien]

Aka out by his own hand: Johnson