Comments from Aker

[catempire]

From foxsports.com.au:

Smarter rotation the answer

By Jason Akermanis
Brisbane Lions star

April 5, 2006

THE season is only one week old and we've been taught a big lesson already. It's up to us to adjust or we'll be worse off than last year.

As a group, Brisbane Lions were embarrassed and dejected in the rooms on Saturday after Geelong handed us our worst opening-round defeat.

Let's not kid around: our inability to win the ball was the reason we lost so badly.

But we know one change which can make a big difference to our competitiveness: we have to be sharper with our rotation.

The Cats made something like 42 changes while we made closer to 20.

By rotating their running players every five minutes they had just that little bit more energy.

It has been said we looked slow and there's no question Geelong is a very quick side.

A couple of factors contributed to that. You always look slower when you're chasing the ball or an opponent, and the Cats had a mountain more possession than we did.

But the main reason is that it is hard to maintain explosiveness when you're running on tired legs.

The Cats always seemed to have more space and it looked as though they had more players on the park.

The reason for that is simple. By keeping their runners fresh, they could burst clear from contests and stoppages and often their opponents could not go with them.

I know from personal experience. I played every minute of the game and although I believe I've got the fitness base to run out a game, there were times I struggled to compete with David Johnson and Corey Enright, who took turns standing me on the wing.

Every few minutes they swapped. It seemed every time the ball came into my area I'd be competing with a fresh set of legs.

It happened to a few of us.

If we play a side like the Bulldogs, who showed on Friday night how damaging their pace can be, and don't rotate more we will be in big trouble.

This is not a fitness issue. Our conditioning staff should be applauded for the work they've put into us over the off-season and I believe as a group, we're fitter than we have ever been.

A lot of preparation went into getting us ready for round 1 and although our performance was a shocker, the base has been laid.

We will improve. I know our group will be better prepared for the rotations this week.

Sure, the heavy defeat hurts, and some other sides may be starting to think we're finished.

But its only round one. Plenty of sides have suffered shock opening-round losses and still gone on to achieve success.

What you saw in round one will be very different to what will happen in round two.

We hope to hear our fans in full voice this week because we love to hear them give opposing sides a hard time.

The Courier-Mail

I noticed this on the weekend but didn't think much of it. It might be a really big advantage this year to have so many players who can play on the ball. Especially so against teams like the Bulldogs and on big grounds like the MCG and Subi.

 

[year of the cat]

This is probably the single most reason why we should be giving the flag a real shake this year - unlike St Kilda who have Ball, Dal Santo, Hayes and perhaps Harvey as their gun-midfielders with Thompson, Peckett and Powell to rotate through, we have a group of perhaps 8 midfielders who may not have quite the same brilliance as the Saints but are certainly more even - Corey, Bartel, Ling, G.Ablett, Chapman, Tenace, Enright, D.Johnson, Milburn, and Byrnes (10 actually). Unlike the Saints and even West Coast (who I see as our greatest challengers) most of our guys are also terrific overhead which gives Bomber the flexibility to play them both back and forward.

 

[YOTC]

Aker - "I am DJ's bitch"

 

[RoosterLad]

Aker - what a top bloke, some people just see him as an arrogant bloke, but he paid a lot of respect to Geelong for playing well, great to see.

YOTC...
1) There is only ONE DJ ... Mr Darren Jarman
2) Your "DJ" will never achieve what Aker has achieved

 

[YOTC]

2) Your "DJ" will never achieve what Aker has achieved

Probably not but he still owns Aker. And thats all that matters.

 

[ezbian]

Aker - what a top bloke, some people just see him as an arrogant bloke, but he paid a lot of respect to Geelong for playing well, great to see.

YOTC...
1) There is only ONE DJ ... Mr Darren Jarman
2) Your "DJ" will never achieve what Aker has achieved

This might be the case RoosterLad but:

YOTC wasn't saying our DJ is a better player than Aker, he was simply making mention of the fact that he beats Aker everytime we play him.

Our DJ is one of the best run withs getting around. Can't wait till we play you guys again so he can destroy and shutdown another one of your midfielders. He would have already done it once this year.

P.S You sure your not a Cats fan. You sure do spend alot of time on our board.

P.P.S You can't be a Cats fan, you have never once had anything intelligent to say.

 

[RoosterLad]

Thanks for your kind words, you are very sweet.

Look at the Cats vs Lions thread about the game, i tipped Geelong to have a %age win. If thats not intelligent im not sure what is. Therefore your argument is incorrent, back to the drawing board clown pants.

 

[ezbian]

Thanks for your kind words, you are very sweet.

Look at the Cats vs Lions thread about the game, i tipped Geelong to have a %age win. If thats not intelligent im not sure what is. Therefore your argument is incorrent, back to the drawing board clown pants.

Oh great. 1 post in 30. Kinda like Carlton's form really.

Keep them coming. I look forward to reading some further insightful views. Like Charlie Gardiner you have a bit to prove yet.

 

[Kegs44]

This is probably the single most reason why we should be giving the flag a real shake this year - unlike St Kilda who have Ball, Dal Santo, Hayes and perhaps Harvey as their gun-midfielders with Thompson, Peckett and Powell to rotate through, we have a group of perhaps 8 midfielders who may not have quite the same brilliance as the Saints but are certainly more even - Corey, Bartel, Ling, G.Ablett, Chapman, Tenace, Enright, D.Johnson, Milburn, and Byrnes (10 actually). Unlike the Saints and even West Coast (who I see as our greatest challengers) most of our guys are also terrific overhead which gives Bomber the flexibility to play them both back and forward.

I agree with you mostly, but I also think that your wrong in saying that our midfielders arent of the same brilliance as the top 4 saints. We are continually said to not have the calibre that the saints have, but i reckon we do, but our strength is that our best 4 on their best 4 are just as good as each other, while our next 4 midfielders ******** on theres, well maybe not ******** but are much better. I personally would prefer Bartel,Ling, Corey and Ablett over the top 4 saints. Maybe I'm just biased

 

[WestCat]

I agree with you mostly, but I also think that your wrong in saying that our midfielders arent of the same brilliance as the top 4 saints. We are continually said to not have the calibre that the saints have, but i reckon we do, but our strength is that our best 4 on their best 4 are just as good as each other, while our next 4 midfielders ******** on theres, well maybe not ******** but are much better. I personally would prefer Bartel,Ling, Corey and Ablett over the top 4 saints. Maybe I'm just biased

Hayes, Ball, Dal Santo and Harvey are probably on par with Judd, Cousins, Kerr and Embley as the best set of 4 midfielders in the league, but I think Corey, Ling, Enright and Chapman could be on, or at least very close to, the same level. Corey and Chapman have taken a step up this year and Enright looks to be continuing his form from last year, Ling is already a star. I think in particular the emergence of Corey this year (not that he was bad last year, he did win the b&f) will be a major boost for our midfield.

Corey and Chappy are nearly a year younger than Ling, and I think this has showed this year. Chappy was very good last year, but seems to have something extra this year, he's a more polished player and seems untouchable. Corey has combined his in and under toughness with some finishing skills and is white hot right now.

I think right now these guys are our best 4 as they have the experience to play consistent top notch footy all year. But in saying that, Bartel, Kelly and Ablett look set to reach the level that they were at last year, playing very few bad games. Not a bad position to be in, especially with Byrnes and Tenace looking to become regular players.

I think this may give us the edge over the better midfields, our second tier players. Bartel, Kelly and Ablett are perhaps the best second tier in the league, compare it to any other, whether that is Braun, Stenglein and Fletcher from the Eagles or Peckett, Powell and Thompson from the Saints, and they come out on top.

 

[Saint]

I don't think the saints are near the eagles in terms of midfields, they were absolutely demolished by the eagles last week. I think we're on about a par with St Kilda for our top 4, but the eagles well clear.
Judd Kerr and Cousins are 3 of the top 8 in the competition, if not the top 5. It is indeed our next 4 who step up and fill that gap, and put us ahead of most teams.

I'm a bit worried about Ling. While he's a good leader for the midfield, I get the feeling he's a little too one paced, and while collecting 20 disposals a game, I dont think he has the capacity to step up to the next level like Corey, Bartel and a couple of others could, into the echelons of Cousins, Kerr, Ball etc.

Akermanis is one of the best things that has happend to the AFL in the last 10 years, not only is he one of the greats of the modern game, tagged for 5 years and still in the top players and still doing miraculous things. But also his honesty and openness is refreshing. He's one of the people I'd love at the Cattery, along with Browny. Some guys just appear to be another level ahead of the field.

DJ does a fantastic job on him, but I doubt even he could've stopped Aker last year, this year was an easy task, with very little supply.

This is my bro's username, so ignore the bummer stuff on the left.

 

[LifeSpan-Void]

hahaha... someone called Saint, with club listed as Essendon, and posting a love of Geelong. Now I've seen it all.

 

[Scarlett Fever]

Can someone else name another footballer other than Joel Corey who has played atleast 6 years of footy and who has always had a better season than the season before. He has never made a rapid improvement but he has kept on getting better and better. This is an incredible effort.

 

[iameviljez]

Can someone else name another footballer other than Joel Corey who has played atleast 6 years of footy and who has always had a better season than the season before. He has never made a rapid improvement but he has kept on getting better and better. This is an incredible effort.

Darren Milburn!