Safety-first Adam Simpson goes into damage-control mode as West Coast go down at The Gabba
An 81-point loss is better than a 171-point one and Adam Simpson looks more intent on not suffering any more record-breaking losses than winning another match in 2023, writes MARK DUFFIELD.
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Twenty years after a 19-year-old Chris Judd went to the Gabba with the Eagles, kicked five goals in a half and lit the arena up against the then mighty Lions, Adam Simpson took a young team there and shut the place down.
Not for a win. Not even for a narrow loss. But if there was unbridled Eagle joy in the 2003 win for Judd and Worsfold’s team, there was – if it is possible – some Eagles relief in an 81-point loss.
After the Lions had kicked the first seven goals of this game Simpson would have had nightmarish SCG flashbacks from two weeks ago when they were on the rough end of a record 171-point loss.
Life for Adam Simpson is relative. He will take an 81-point loss over a 171-point one any day.
This time after quarter time the Eagles sandbagged and the Lions kicked nine goals to three in the final three quarters. If Judd brought fans of brilliant football to life – this match was more likely to put them to sleep.
The positives for West Coast were limited – Brady Hough did a good job on Charlie Cameron, Elijah Hewett and Campbell Chesser showed more promising signs and Jeremy McGovern got through three strong quarters unscathed. But the negatives were limited too. At West Coast in 2023, fewer negatives is actually a positive.
In the “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” world of coaching a struggling AFL team, you can go one of two ways: Allow the game to be played on its merits and hope your young players show enough to give supporters hope. You might get flogged, but if two or three of your kids do things supporters like, it somehow doesn’t seem as bad.
Or you can sandbag – flood, congest, make the game ugly and keep the scoring low. You might not see as much from your kids, but you might limit the damage on the scoreboard.
Knocked down in Brisbane. pic.twitter.com/NDQK0hGqqk
— West Coast Eagles (@WestCoastEagles) July 8, 2023
If you get caught between the two methods it can get bleak – the score still mounts against you, and the kids don’t provide your fans with rays of hope.
The first quarter had that feel about it. The Eagles had tried to deny the Lions space early and keep the game tight. But Brisbane broke free anyway and kicked the first seven goals. It came out of the middle, where early clearance dominance gave the Lions an 18-6 inside fifty edge in the first term.
The Eagles were keen enough to compete but they were bees to the honey pot flooding to the contest. When the ball spilt to the outside, Brisbane owned it.
After a tight first six minutes, Brisbane bolted 45 points clear and the Eagles were having SCG nightmares until Jack Darling and Jayden Hunt kicked the last two goals of the term.
It was still a five goal deficit at the first change – a long way back for a team still trying to find its way.
The Eagles were able to take the sting out of the game and dry the scoring up in the second term. Brisbane kicked three goals. They missed a few too but the Eagles also gifted them two.
An optimistic kick across field left McGovern in a one versus two and under the pump resulting in an Eric Hipwood goal. Another errant cross ground kick might have almost found Tom Barrass but he couldn’t hold the mark and as he tumbled to ground Zac Bailey cashed in.
In drying up the Lions, the Eagles dried up themselves. Darling looked like he had his 500th goal but replays showed Brisbane defender Jackson Payne had touched it just before the ball cleared the goal line.
And the three goals the Lions did kick made the mountain for the Eagles way too big to climb. The half time lead was nine goals. Hewett’s 13 disposals and three first half clearances were reason to hope. So was Chesser who had nine first half disposals. Otherwise this was turning into another character testing Eagles trudge to the final siren.
The trend continued into the third. The Eagles clogged the corridor and the back half – they forced Brisbane to either go wide or navigate congestion through the middle. It wasn’t pretty but it certainly limited scoreboard damage – the three goal to one term had Brisbane safely 71-points clear but had the Eagles clinging to hopes they could stop the unhinged run of scores against that had unfolded in the record loss against Sydney.
You only needed one stat at three quarter time to tell you where the game had been played – the inside fifty count had climbed to 50-19 against the Eagles.
Apart from Tim Kelly (18 disposals), the Eagles biggest ball winners were defenders – McGovern had had 20, so had Jayden Hunt. Hough had managed 19 and Liam Duggan led all Eagles players with 22.
But it was starvation corner for the forwards. Darling had touched the ball seven times in three quarters, Oscar Allen six, Jamie Cripps six.
Having gone safety first in scoreboard management for three quarters, Simpson also went safety first in man management. McGovern, in his first match for three months, was subbed out of the game at three quarter time. It enabled the Eagles to bring Tom Cole, in his first game in almost as long, to come in and get a quarter under his belt.
The change fitted the approach to the game. This was damage control in all facets.
Originally published as Safety-first Adam Simpson goes into damage-control mode as West Coast go down at The Gabba
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