Support For Lion Criticism

The Age

Monday September 27, 2004

Peter Ker

Brisbane Lions defender Mal Michael's astonishing post-match criticisms of his teammates, including a thinly-veiled swipe at Jason Akermanis and Jonathan Brown, were given qualified support by other Lions players yesterday.

Even Akermanis agreed that his second-quarter retaliation against Damien Hardwick - which cost the Lions a free kick at goal and resulted in the ball being quickly taken away for a Port Adelaide goal at the other end - was "silly".

Shortly after Saturday's loss, Michael highlighted that incident, and another where the Lions conceded a centre-square free kick, seemingly through Jonathan Brown, at the start of the third term.

"A few egos got in the way as well," Michael told The Sunday Age. "We had a shot on goal taken away by a decision that was reversed, which for the back line was devastating. Instead of shooting for goal, the ball was rebounded and Byron Pickett slotted it through and set the wheels in motion for them.

"That was one but there were other instances in the game which really hurt us.

"Perhaps the key one was at the start of the third quarter. We didn't even get the chance to contest the ball because of a free kick and I think they ended up kicking a goal, those things are demoralising for team morale."

Michael added that too many Brisbane players had shown disrespect for their Port Adelaide opponents on the day and suggested some of them may have been preparing their Norm Smith Medal acceptance speeches before the game.

When asked if he agreed with Michael's comments, defender Darryl White said: "Yeah, a little bit.

"Those things do cost you and obviously with the magnitude of the game, at the end of the day, you go back and you pinpoint those things and say, 'S---, we went wrong here, we went wrong there'," he said.

Though he did not reject Michael's comments, White refused to let Akermanis and Brown take all the blame, saying that he, too, felt he had let the side down.

"Even when I gave away a free kick to (Toby) Thurstans right in the first quarter there, those sort of things (hurt you). I sort of picked on myself a bit because I had two goals kicked on me.

"At the end of the day, we've won three out of four."

Akermanis, who kicked three excellent goals on the day, agreed that such acts of indiscipline were damaging for team morale. "I was upset with it myself, let alone him (Michael). Then they went down and kicked a goal. It's very difficult, very difficult. A couple of times that happened and that was one. When it's going your way, it's going your way, I suppose," he said.

Captain Michael Voss also conceded that such incidents had hurt the Lions cause, but did not want Brown and Akermanis to be the focus of all blame.

"It certainly doesn't help," he said of the two incidents.

"You could pick incidents and of course they contribute to the end result, but is it the reason (for the loss)? I don't think so.

"I couldn't possibly put it down to just two incidents."

Only coach Leigh Matthews directly rejected Michael's suggestion that egos had cost the side.

"I'm not quite sure what Mal said, and I'm not quite sure what he is alluding to," he told Channel Nine.

"I don't think that's the case at all . . . I don't think that had anything to do with egos."

© 2004 The Age

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