{"id":937176,"date":"2026-10-22T18:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T18:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/937176\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T18:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T18:08:13","slug":"afl-akermanis-urges-lions-to-stop-wasting-time-in-coach-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/937176\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL: Akermanis urges Lions to stop \u2018wasting time\u2019 in coach search"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane great Jason Akermanis says the Lions \u201cdon\u2019t need\u201d Nathan Buckley and has urged the club to appoint Cameron Bruce as the replacement for departed triple-premiership winning coach Chris Fagan.<\/p>\n

Former Collingwood coach Buckley \u2013 who this year was an assistant at Geelong \u2013 is set to formally present to the Lions\u2019 coaching selection panel, who are reportedly willing to wait for him to return from an overseas holiday next month.<\/p>\n

The Lions job became vacant after Fagan stood down after 10 years in charge following Brisbane\u2019s third successive grand final win last month.<\/p>\n

Lions assistant coach Bruce is considered favourite to replace Fagan, but 54-year-old Buckley \u2013 who played for the Brisbane Bears in 1993 before leaving to continue his career with the Magpies \u2013 is reportedly \u201camong three or four options\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Akermanis, who was part of Brisbane\u2019s hat-trick of premierships from 2001 to 2003, said the Lions needed to stop \u201cwasting time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cCameron Bruce is the guy (to replace Fagan) \u2013 he\u2019s always been the guy,\u201d Akermanis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why they\u2019re playing ducks and drakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying that \u2018Bucks\u2019 wouldn\u2019t suit the Lions, I just don\u2019t think he\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got their coach. He\u2019s been sitting there for years, the players know him, so you safely go to Cameron Bruce.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know why they are wasting their time. You don\u2019t need \u2018Bucks\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are not at all going to hire anyone else (apart from Bruce), in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two of Akermanis\u2019 three grand final wins with Brisbane were over Collingwood teams that included Buckley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like \u2018Bucks\u2019 and I get on well with \u2018Bucks\u2019, but I wouldn\u2019t be doing anything other than picking Cameron Bruce (as Brisbane\u2019s new coach) and getting on with it.\u201d the 2001 Brownlow medallist said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it, and it ain\u2019t broken. They\u2019ve got a wonderful coaching staff there. Just upgrade Dale Morris to senior assistant and appoint Bruce as the coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lions\u2019 coaching selection panel consists of club chairman Andrew Wellington, chief executive Sam Graham, general manager of football Danny Daly and club coaching mentor Phil Smyth.<\/p>\n

Lions board member Leigh Matthews, who coached Brisbane to its hat-trick of flags in the early 2000s, is serving in an advisory capacity.<\/p>\n

The panel will also be supported by Akermanis\u2019 former teammate and fellow Brownlow medallist Simon Black and sports psychologist Matti Clements.<\/p>\n

Originally published as Jason Akermanis backs Cameron Bruce over Nathan Buckley for Brisbane Lions coaching job<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane great Jason Akermanis says the Lions \u201cdon\u2019t need\u201d Nathan Buckley and has urged the club to appoint…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":937177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[503896,442898,503888,365771,215482,503898,503908,503895,638,503906,503905,487610,406874,503894,388212,503902,64,63,55,639,651,503901,503890,3237,503882,278347,76251,340431,12847,254516,10966,503883,487617,503899,13284,503903,503892,112674,503889,503907,393651,91360,486240,503887,503885,5588,13658,387247,379545,503900,326501,503891,4127,401069,26511,43961,503893,6622,413580,94,116481,85,487596,126725,503904,503886,443907,382205,392780,405477,376724,7709,387328,175806,485914,454268,487620,387648,364611,503897,503884,46863,32388],"class_list":["post-937176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-hat-trick","tag-s-new-coach","tag-s-third-successive-grand-final-win","tag-10-years","tag-215482","tag-2001-to-2003","tag-54-year-old-buckley","tag-a-wonderful-coaching-staff","tag-afl","tag-aker","tag-akermanis","tag-an-advisory-capacity-the-panel","tag-an-assistant","tag-an-overseas-holiday","tag-anyone-else","tag-anything-other","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-great-jason-akermanis","tag-brisbane-legend-jason-akermanis","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-brisbane-lions-coaching-job","tag-brisbane-qld","tag-bruce","tag-buckley","tag-bucks","tag-cameron-bruce","tag-charge","tag-chief-executive-sam-graham","tag-club-chairman-andrew-wellington","tag-club-coaching-mentor-phil-smyth-lions-board-member-leigh-matthews","tag-coaching","tag-coaching-selection-panel","tag-collingwood-teams","tag-dale-morris","tag-departed-triple-premiership-winning-coach-chris-fagan","tag-ducks-and-drakes","tag-fagan","tag-flags","tag-football-danny-daly","tag-former-collingwood-coach-buckley","tag-former-teammate-and-fellow-brownlow-medallist-simon-black","tag-front","tag-geelong","tag-general-manager","tag-his-career","tag-its-hat-trick","tag-jason-akermanis","tag-last-month-lions-assistant-coach-bruce","tag-lions","tag-my-opinion","tag-nathan-buckley","tag-newswire-sport","tag-next-month-the-lions-job","tag-part","tag-premierships","tag-qld","tag-senior-assistant","tag-sports","tag-sports-psychologist-matti-clements","tag-stop","tag-the-2001-brownlow-medallist","tag-the-all-conquering-lions","tag-the-brisbane-bears","tag-the-club","tag-the-coach","tag-the-early-2000s","tag-the-guy","tag-the-lions","tag-the-magpies","tag-the-players","tag-the-replacement","tag-their-coach","tag-their-next-coach","tag-their-time","tag-this-year","tag-three-grand-final-wins","tag-three-or-four-options","tag-wasting-time","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}