West Coast Eagles coach Adam Simpson can’t take a trick.
It’s hard to remember a coach having to combat such an onslaught of misfortune after just seven rounds. The Eagles have been savaged by injuries and ravaged by COVID-19.
There appeared to be a glimmer of hope with the club’s stunning win against the Pies in Round 4. The victory turned sour with the news star ruckman Nic Naitanui damaged his knee in the dying seconds of the game, ruling him out for up to 12 weeks.
Just when you thought West Coast’s disastrous season couldn’t become anymore abysmal after the Tigers demolished the Eagles last Friday night, Adam Simpson tested positive to COVID on Thursday.
The 2018 premiership coach will miss the clash against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night. Remarkably, COVID and injuries have reduced the Eagles to just 22 fit players.
West Coast’s farcical season had truly dipped into the bizarre. You almost expect to hear the Eagles’ bus was abducted by aliens en route to the Gabba.
But the endless calamities endured by West Coast are putting undue pressure on Simpson. Sometimes, it’s not the coach’s fault.
The growing, cackling chorus of AFL commentators calling for him to be sacked is unjust. Simpson deserves to be at the club next season, based on their COVID battle alone.
(Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Media/Getty Images)
The Eagles’ football manager Gavin Bell said in a statement on Thursday the club had ventured into “unprecedented times”. The comment requires no hyperbole.
“As it stands we have 22 available AFL-listed players with the remainder either injured or in AFL Health and Safety Protocols,” Bell said.
“The club has eight staff and players – including Greg Clark who made an impressive debut last week – currently in AFL Health and Safety protocols.”
The injury-ravaged Eagles will again have to access their 20-player contingency list just to put a team on the park against the red-hot Lions.
Skipper Luke Shuey and dynamic small forward Willie Rioli will also miss the game with hamstring injuries.
West Coast’s horror season continued on Thursday after the club had to postpone their WAFL match game against East Fremantle on Saturday because the Eagles can’t provide the minimum three AFL-listed players.
You wouldn’t begrudge West Coast for waving the white flag.
There is no denying the Eagles have served up some shocking performances so far this season. But even the harshest critics of West Coast’s woeful form would agree the club has had a terrible run of injuries and COVID-19 dramas.
Only veteran Shannon Hurn and former Richmond player Patrick Naish have turned out for every game. And Naish only signed on for the Eagles in March via the pre-season supplemental selection period.
But despite the club being plunged into a COVID crisis, some commentators haven’t wasted time putting the boot into Simpson.
AFL shock jock Kane Cornes said West Coast should sack Simpson and have a “massive crack” at four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson. It’s hard to take Cornes seriously at times, given the former Port Adelaide provocateur dishes up some controversial claptrap once a week.
But Cornes isn’t alone. Former Fremantle Dockers great and respected footy commentator Paul Hasleby said West Coast should part ways with Simpson.
The Eagles shouldn’t be drawing up the divorce papers just yet.
(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
It is abundantly clear West Coast have underperformed since winning the premiership in 2018. And the club’s managing of their list has been dubious at times.
The Eagles sold the farm to get former Geelong player Tim Kelly to the club in 2019 in the hope of winning another flag. Given Naitanui, Andrew Gaff and Brad Sheppard missed the 2018 grand final, recruiting Kelly appeared to be a smart move.
Kelly has been serviceable but West Coast’s premiership window has been slammed shut and the house has collapsed.
Simpson has also come under fire for his unimaginative game plan, which many football pundits have called outdated. And West Coast’s lack of top draft picks means there isn’t a lot of young talent coming through.
There are still doubts whether the club’s first-round draft pick from last year, Campbell Chesser, will even play this season.
There is no disguising the fact West Coast have been horrible in most games. The club will more than likely claim their second wooden spoon this year.
Simpson’s coaching style hasn’t always been impeccable but West Coast have only missed the finals twice during his nine-year reign. He coached the Eagles to a losing grand final in his second season and won the flag three years later. Most clubs would take that.
Simpson is contracted until the end of 2024 but the jungle drums will be beating louder around him if the Eagles continue to get thumped in the coming weeks.
He doesn’t deserve it. But AFL clubs aren’t in the business of being charitable to their coaches after finishing last.
The Eagles just need to pull out the red pen and put a line through 2022. Everything that could go wrong has.
Simpson should be able to redeem himself next season. But not all AFL coaches get the redemption they warrant.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Man, ur crazy, try being a St Kilda or a Norf supporter, or even a Port or Adelaide supporter, then U will know real footy pain
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Preaching to the choir, of course he should stay, hit the draft hard, maybe use pick 1, maybe split it for a pair of top tens? This season may help west coast long term, they should have started rebuilding this year anyway, this will Fast track that
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
This "stubborn" Simmo stuff is crazy. Simmo is not even that kind of personality. Simmo has said many times the game plan is totally different. You can't train it or establish it with 25-30 players out each week. This will sort itself after the storm passes.
DTM
Roar Rookie
All good points Seymour. From all reports, Simmo is a great bloke. However, the club has made several major mistakes since 2020 (including re signing him). 2020 was an abnormal year but we should have used that to commence a major rebuild. How they thought we were still in the premiership window is beyond me. Simmo is now signed to the end of 2024. There is no point getting rid of him before the end of this year and, if I was CEO, I'd be having a very frank conversation with him about how we wanted him to develop some young kids for the rest of 2022 and 2023. If he is not on board with that then I'd say he needs to go at the end of 2022. We are not playing finals in 2022, 2023 or 2024.
Nico
Roar Rookie
The whole club’s “participation trophy” culture is rotten and passive, right from the top. The boys don’t seem to care if they win or lose. They’re the least fit and athletic team, in a sport where this is key. Totally defeatist. - Simpson. I’m a huge fan of Simmo, and desperately feel sorry for him at the moment. But the stubbornness with the game-plan and “backing in” credits in the bank guys ahead of non-celeb youngsters that actually have a crack is exhausting and inexcusable. Zero accountability, no matter how you perform. Must be nice. Still, hands off Simmo this year please. He’s not perfect, but the circumstances are well and truly extenuating. Not even peak Clarko, Fagan, Matthews or Malthouse would be getting positive results if dealt this hand. - Luke Shuey remaining captain when his body is made of glass is the most bizarre thing. But sadly unsurprising… Just sums up the culture that the boys voted him in again this year, when he has barely played in 3 years. Stinks like the Saints bizarrely sticking with the uninspiring choice of Jarryn Geary for years when he was always injured. You need your captain on the field, not permanently on the bench with trackies on. (Duggan should be captain). - Duggan: Moving Duggan from the backline to convert him to a midfielder was a wasted experiment. Duggan was turning into an elite defender. Wasted some of his development. - McGovern: If they don’t already exist, there need to be performance-based clauses added to long-term big money contracts. McGovern has never been the same. He’s not alone. Grundy at Collingwood basically the same since his huge contract. And plenty of others. - Rohan O’Brien: Please get rid of O’Brien… has made some appalling and uninspired recruiting fails for too long. (Think/hope he’s leaving at the end of the year anyway) - The club song: I also blame that corporate-pop dirge. Get rid. Not coincidental the bottom started falling out when that was introduced. Decline began in 2019, especially evident in the final round when we lost to Hawthorn at Optus, with a top 4 spot on the line. That game signalled the beginning of the end. But in 2020 the bottom started falling out, though many didn’t pay much attention because of covid… - Travel hoodoo. Every team travels. Freo next door travel fine. What is it with the Eagles’ psychology that affects their performance so badly when they travel? Soft culture, missing their own beds and families/pets. Truly bizarre for professional, grown up, supposedly elite athletes. - Lastly, Tim Kelly. I feel bad for TK. You just know Kelly knows he’ll be blamed forever for the club’s current state. They sold the farm to get him (how good is Geelong’s recruiting!). Anyway, TK signed up for an elite midfield within legit reach of a premiership, and then ended up playing in a zero midfield that will probably not even threaten for a premiership in his career there. Cruel twist.
Nico
Roar Rookie
Combination of both.
Eureka
Guest
It’s become increasingly more difficult to support Simpson, he is quickly running out of lives. I like that he has made the club a sanctuary but I think he may have made players too comfortable at the expense of accountability and he gives games to underdone name players ahead of young players that are in form and giving great effort and that’s a terrible message to send to the playing group and fans. Hurn should still be captain! Nisbett, as good as he has been, is getting stale and needs to hand the reigns over to someone else. Rawlings was a good list manager but since he departed there has been no stability in the role with the manager changing every 12-18 months. Venables was a terrible loss as he was being groomed to be Shuey’s successor and he’d be very handy now, and drafting Brander was a wasted 1st round pick. Effort is missing and that falls on the coach! If he won’t play for him it’s time to find someone they will play for!
Ian_
Roar Rookie
If the issue is lack of skill/talent, I think he can be excused. If it's more due to lack of effort, that's much harder to defend. I haven't watched any Eagles games this year, so can't comment on which it is
Klompy
Guest
It maybe time to get a New Coach at the mighty Eagles., Here are a few names the Eagles should look at for a New Coach., Dean Cox,. Darren Glass,. Quentin Lynch, They are West Australians and they can bring in new fresh ideas and not have a Victorian Coach., Lets have John Worsfold as a mentor to the new Coach., Worsha could bring in new ideas for the Coach.,
Seymorebutts
Roar Rookie
I get the whole ''Kelly trade'' thing. They took a punt to get another flag, it didnt work, move on. They gave away too much.. and they turned down a rolled gold chance to get some top end talent in with Gaff at the end of 2020. But by 2020, certainly by 2021 it was clear a rebuild should have been in order. Kennedy Hurn and Cripps for starters should have been retired. Some tough conversations needed to be had with people like Naitanui. They kept Venebales on the list for years.. literally, after one year out of the game there should have been a conversation with him.. Footy is a tough business. ''Skipper Luke Shuey and dynamic small forward Willie Rioli will also miss the game with hamstring injuries.'' Both of those guys are underdone and this is what happens when you play guys who are underdone, Yeo cannot run out a game. The biggest bugbear for everybody is young players come in, do well, then get dropped to make way for senior players who are clearly, out of shape!! That is not Covid!! Thats Adam Simpson. Game plan, the whole backline play like forwards, nobody spoils , nobody stays on their man, opposition sides are virutally walking goals in. Using Covid as an excuse papers over some legitimate problems the club has . Adam Simpsons time has come. They peaked betwen 2015 and 2018, and it was time to begin a list clear out at the end of 2020. Bad trades, Keeping Gaff, playing overweight out of shape players, game plan which doesnt work, or nobody understands, backmen having no clue about how to defend.. None of that is the fault of Covid.. its the fault of the coach.
The Sports Lover
Roar Rookie
Sacking Simpson will only destabilise a rickety team even more. It seems that the default plan of most fans is to “sack the coach” when results don’t meet expectations. It seems to me that the club has failed to manage the list in accordance with changing game styles. I can’t believe only Simpson is responsible for list selection. If WC grab the wooden spoon in 2022, they need to freshen up with young talent and come up with a plan to wave goodbye to some of their older champions clogging up the list.