Jason Akermanis on life-changing ADHD diagnosis: How he could have stemmed antics

Across a 300-game career, Jason Akermanis was always chasing attention, on and off the field. He’s now discovered the driving force behind his antics, and reveals how a life-changing diagnosis could have stemmed his outbursts if he had it while playing.

ATTN: SPORT ALL PAPERS > 16-07-05 > AFL Football at Subiaco Oval in Perth > West Coast Eagles v Brisbane Lions > Brisbane's Jason Akermanis in action against West Coast > PICTURE: JACKSON FLINDELL

Brisbane Lions triple premiership star Jason Akermanis has revealed a lifelong battle with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), adamant he would have avoided many of the great controversies of his decorated career with an early diagnosis.

Akermanis’ 16-year-old daughter Sienna was diagnosed last year and his speech-pathologist wife Megan suggested at the same time that he might have the same condition.

Now well-medicated, he says it has been a life-changing decision given he is no longer chasing those dopamine hits that followed some of the big controversies that invariably followed his career. The 46-year-old was one of football’s most dynamic players, but through his regular media interviews and print columns was a lightning rod for controversy, eventually sacked by Lions coach Leigh Matthews.

He will never regret the post-match handstands that drew the adoration of Brisbane fans, but says they were exactly the kind of attention-seeking acts that his brain craved because of the disorder.

Brisbane's Jason Akermanis kisses the ground in a handstand after a semi-final win over Adelaide at the Gabba in Brisbane in 2003.

Now working in real estate in Brisbane, the Brownlow Medallist said all of the symptoms of ADHD – hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity – were features of his life until he sought expert medical care.

“The typical ADHD brain won’t make dopamine normally. It really needs to be stimulated. Nearly all of it occurs in sport – kicking a big goal in front of a big crowd or any kind of exertion is the only way to do it.

“When I look back (had I been diagnosed), I could have done better at school because if your brain doesn’t concentrate that’s clearly an issue.

“But the other part that got me in the most trouble was talking to get myself going.

“I would write stuff and stay stuff against my opponents. I would pick my targets and it got my brain going and my brain loved it, but I was the only one who loved it. Everyone at the club, particularly the coach, didn’t like it.

“Put it this way, there would be no question I would have avoided all of (the controversies).

Jason Akermanis‘s career wasn’t short of controversy.

“It’s all about reacting quickly and poorly. I would have had a brain that would have allowed me to say, ‘Let’s take stock, let’s have a look at this, how can I say it well?’. That is the difference.”

Akermanis believes those Gabba handstands were the perfect example of his need for attention – with the desire to avoid rejection a key element of the condition.

“For me that was the best thing outside kicking goals. You would go around and get that roar and it was brilliant. My brain would have loved it and I loved it. There is nothing I would change, but maybe a non-ADHD brain would think it’s a good idea because you didn’t need it. My brain obviously did need it.”

The 325-game star still believes Matthews would have traded him for revealing the extent of teammate Nigel Lappin’s rib injury leading into the 2003 Grand Final had he not kicked five goals. But he was eventually moved on by the legendary Lions coach – who described him as a football “consultant” – with his Bulldogs tenure also ending in acrimony as he warred with a well-entrenched leadership group in 2010.

Jason Akermanis believes if he’s been diagnosed and medicated for ADHD he may have been able to stay at the Lions.

Akermanis said the best way to describe ADHD was like having 12 tabs open on your computer compared to a single screen.

“Once I started taking Ritalin, my whole life changed forever,” he said.

“Those meds for normal people would be a stimulant, but for us it just calms the mind down and gets it to work beautifully. And that is worth every single doctors’ appointment.

“For the first time I could sit down and do contracts, I could do Form 6s, which in Queensland are the legal documents for selling and leasing properties. I could sit down and do 1000 emails. Before that if there was one error I would get so frustrated I would have to walk away. Those hard things went from being so hard to mundane.

“If I was in the media now I would be a completely different Jason Akermanis compared to the one who years ago was getting in trouble for all kinds of shit.”

Akermanis said he would still have left the Lions in search of another premiership even if not for his controversies, but remains steadfast he did little wrong in the Lappin episode.

“No, that wasn’t one I regretted because I was telling the truth. That was the one that was going to get me sacked. You ask Leigh – and he never admits it – but he said to Gubby (football boss Graeme Allan), ‘at the end of this Grand Final you get rid of him. Just do anything. Get him out of the team’.

“Both of them have never denied it. I ask them and they never say no, they just shrug their shoulders with a smile. But after I kicked five goals (in that Grand Final), apparently Gubby said, ‘What do you reckon about trade week?’ and Leigh said, ‘He’s got a job for life’.”

Originally published as Jason Akermanis on life-changing ADHD diagnosis: How he could have stemmed antics