Crossword Genius

Age about right, little jerk and friend in unreliable manner (11)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

erratically

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'age about right little jerk and friend' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'unreliable manner' is the wordplay.
'unreliable' becomes 'erratic' (similar in meaning).
'manner' becomes 'ally' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'erratic'+'ally'='ERRATICALLY'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for erratically that I've seen before include "Unpredictably" , "In an irregular manner" , "In a haphazard manner" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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