Opinion: West Coast Eagles should make Adam Simpson decision before end of season

Adam Simpson’s chances of remaining Eagles coach in 2024 are diminishing by the day. MARK DUFFIELD writes that a decision should be made now, with an appropriate farewell.

The likelihood of Adam Simpson keeping his job at West Coast is diminshing. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

The West Coast board should expedite judgement on coach Adam Simpson. If he is to be forced out, the 2018 premiership coach should join his premiership heroes in a farewell game against Adelaide at home in round 24.

Sources at the Eagles believe Simpson is doomed. Even people who believe the board has not made up its mind say Simpson’s confidence that he will be retained has taken a massive hit in the wake of the 101-point derby defeat to Fremantle last weekend.

Officially, the Eagles board has stuck to a timetable put in place publicly by chairman Paul Fitzpatrick several weeks ago that there will be no significant changes implemented or announced before the end of the season.

But it is understood that Simpson’s position, which has previously been deemed safe because he had two years of a contract to be honoured, is now a matter for discussion.

That represents a significant shift in the club’s position that in turn begs two questions: What information does the board expect to acquire in the last two weeks of the season that it does not yet have that would influence any decision on Simpson?

Simpson’s long term tenure at West Coast is looking unlikely as the season draws to a close. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

And as a flow on from that: If Simpson is not going to continue – either because he is sacked or because he and the club reach a mutual understanding that it is time to part company – why shouldn’t the club give him the farewell it will give Luke Shuey, Shannon Hurn and the injured Nic Naitanui at the Crows game?

Naitanui is a club hero.

Hurn is a premiership captain and the club’s games record holder, Shuey is the current captain and the 2018 Norm Smith Medallist.

But Simpson is the 2018 premiership coach, one of only three men to coach premierships in West Coast’s 37 year history.

He is the leader of a team that went through a season without tasting defeat in Victoria – an achievement nothing short of remarkable for any interstate club, let alone one travelling from Western Australia.

Eagles great Josh Kennedy, a strong Simpson supporter, still believes his former coach is capable of bringing a new generation of Eagles through.

But Kennedy told SEN on Wednesday that he was “sitting on the fence” now as to whether he would get the chance to.

He acknowledged there was “an argument” that a new group of players should also come with a new coach.

“There is definitely an argument. There are still a couple of games to go and hopefully there are not a couple more of these beltings,” he said.

The 2018 premiership coach would be deserving of an appropriate send-off. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith

“It will be interesting to see how these changes go.

‘Whether Simmo is the right man for the job I am sure that West Coast and the board will make the right decisions coming into the back end of the year but there has been a big changeover of players, there is a young crop coming through, Simmo is starting to deal with that young crop.

“A complete change? Sometimes it is a positive, sometimes it is a negative.

“I am kind of sitting on the fence at the moment.

“I can’t really give you an answer.

“There is too much up in the air. Sometimes changes are good but sometimes they aren’t.

“I am sure that the club – the way they have operated in the last 30 years – will make the right decision moving forward.

“I think he is (capable of overseeing a rebuild).

“He does adjust and he does adapt to that environment. This year he has been in that massive pressure cooker state from the media, from everything external.”

Kennedy believed the club would talk to players past and present to try and get a feel for whether Simpson should continue.

“It is going to be interesting to see what the club do,” he said.

“Whether they go through, not a review, but a discussion with players and other players that have played previously, just to kind of get that gauge.

“Simmo’s plan over the last few years has always been consistent and that is what has always been presented to the board in terms of development and transition of the list.

“As much as the wins aren’t coming – it is slowly starting to happen and the consistency over the next few years – getting guys on the park to train, getting games into these young kids, probably enhancing the development resources at the club.”

Simpson and the Eagles have endured a horror season with five losses of more than 100 points. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

He believed a decision on Simpson “could go either way”.

“I think he is still capable. It just depends on what the board are thinking towards the back end of the year,” Kennedy said.

But even Kennedy’s comments on the “pressure cooker state” Simpson had endured this year point to the need for change.

A rebuilding club will almost certainly have unfavourable win-loss ratios and the criticism and questioning of Simpson’s position would continue to be a distraction adding pressure on a young list.

The young players at West Coast need a circuit breaker and clear air as much as anything.

That will be nigh on impossible with Simpson at the helm.

His team has won six of its last 52 games.

This year the record is 2-19, a percentage of fifty, with 15 losses of 40 points or more and five losses of more than 100 points with a club record 171-point loss against Sydney and a derby record 101-point loss against Fremantle.

Originally published as Opinion: West Coast Eagles should make Adam Simpson decision before end of season