Robbo: ‘When’ and ‘if’ loom large for coaches in the run home as clubs get restless

It’s the time of year some coaches start making peace with their football mortality. Adam Simpson is already doing so, writes MARK ROBINSON, but who else is feeling the heat?

Coaches across the league are under pressure

It’s a matter of “when” and not “if” for West Coast coach Adam Simpson.

For both parties, ideally it’s at the end of the season. It’s less bloody.

Parted ways by mutual agreement reads much better than being sacked after round 17.

Simpson knows. He’s been both a successful coach and a survivor. His team has won eight games and lost 53 since the start of 2022. And when he talks about his own mortality as a senior coach, as he did on Sunday, well, he just knows.

The end of the season seems right, because they’ve stood by him through the worst era in Eagles history, so what’s a couple of more weeks?

Still, would anyone be surprised if West Coast called a press conference for Tuesday morning and announced it was all over? It’s that grim.

Adam Simpson is under intense pressure to keep his job as Eagles coach. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

Simpson says the rebuild will take time, no matter if he’s the coach or not, and he’s right.

But once again, here’s evidence that the rebuild coach rarely survives.

It was a weekend of “when” and “if” for several coaches.

Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick demanded “when” from his team after yet another loss on the road. How he escaped sanction, or even a 'please explain' for saying f--- at his post-match press conference is apparently neither here or there.

What the AFL walks by is what it accepts.

Seemingly, all coaches can now drop the f-bomb and know the AFL would be quietly amused at the larrikinism of it all.

I’m in the larrikin camp – and loved the emotion – but mum and four of my aunties would not be impressed. And probably not ideal for the kids either.

But the AFL clearly didn’t think about them.

Hardwick’s message to his players was on-point, however: When will this mob stand up and be counted?

Curiously, going public with condemnation of his team was more surprising than his f-bomb. Modern coaches cuddle their players, publicly at least, and Hardwick was to the contrary. Arriving at a new club with three flags in the kitbag clearly is empowering.

Suns bosses, I’m sure, would’ve loved it. This team needs to stiffen up, which is why they got the sometimes hot-headed Hardwick in the first place.

Could the fire and brimstone coach be returning?

Craig McRae is a lover not a fighter, which suddenly has Collingwood legend Tony Shaw in a flap. Shaw told 3AW over the weekend: “I just want to see some anger in his face.”

McRae is a charming and disarming media performer, but people who know him well say he also has a competitive and confrontational element to his character. We might see more of that as the “when” and “if” collide in a Pies season that is fast slipping into mediocrity.

Craig Macrae walks off the ground at Marvel Stadium after Collingwood barely held of a rampaging North Melbourne last month. Picture: Michael Klein.

Only “when” Collingwood players decide to run both ways and be accountable to each other, and the team gets a decent forward group, will the “if” be in play. If there’s no “when”, there certainly won’t be an “if”.

If only Luke Beveridge would get angry. That’s some of the commentary from dismayed Bulldogs fans after one of the most untrustworthy teams in the competition lived up to its reputation at Adelaide Oval on Saturday. They break your hearts, the Dogs. Just when you believe, they stumble. That’s if you can call a 48-point loss a stumble. Or is that a crumble?

Beveridge’s future has been on the table and off it this season, and suddenly the “if” is poised once again. The Dogs are 11th on the ladder, four points from eighth position, and have the same amount of wins as Hawthorn and Gold Coast. And they play Carlton (Marvel), Geelong (GMHBA), Sydney (SCG) and Melbourne (Marvel) in the next month.

Luke Beveridge walks away from the Western Bulldogs’ huddle against Port Adelaide on Saturday. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

We’re not hounding Bevo as a blood sport, but “if” the season goes pear-shaped from here, the decision-makers at the Dogs have a call to make.

It’s up to them to decide whether this has been a successful season.

It’s weird because if the Dogs win all four of those games, Beveridge will be a candidate for coach of the year.

Three weeks back, it seemed Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley had a ticket in the “when” raffle. As in when will he be gone? Now in sixth position, the Power have their sights on a top-four finish.

Imagine if that happened. Or if the Cats finished fourth. Or Brisbane. Or Fremantle.

They’ve all had tumult at some stage, yet all of them believe they can win the premiership.

The 2024 season has been crazy with its storylines and make no mistake, more are coming.

It’s not a matter of if, but when. And to who.