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Akermanis said on the TV show that Simon Black would win the Lions' best and fairest, that former Lions assistant coach Daryn Cresswell had been responsible for leaking stories during the year, not him, and that despite the club being set to lose $1.5 million this year the chief executive had awarded himself a pay rise.
'If (Akermanis) wants to make a fresh start with us — (and) we are certainly excited by that opportunity — he is going to have to come in and prove to the playing group he is worth having because we certainly don't want people coming in disrupting the mix we have there, because we have certainly got a good mix of players,' West said.
Smorgon said he was troubled about Akermanis' behaviour and warned that the Bulldogs would hold no truck with his renegade behaviour.
'Anybody who would not buy into those team rules would not be welcome at the Bulldogs,' Smorgon said.
'It is a concern to us (Akermanis' behaviour) and that concern has been put to Jason … It is not the way we expect people to behave and Jason is his own man. At the moment he is not tied to the Bulldogs but has said we are his preferred club to go to, but full credit to Scotty; he has only stated what the club's position is.