There are explosive rumours coming out of West Coast that coach Adam Simpson and Eagles CEO Trevor Nisbett are set to face off in a game of rock, paper, scissors with the loser having to leave the club immediately.
Yes, the idea this could decide the fate of either Simpson or Nisbett is absurd, but given the club continues to maintain the illusion of normalcy after another historic bloodbath, it might be the best way to break the deadlock.
Despite the inner chaos brewing within the club and West Coast’s horrifically hapless showing on the field the Eagles are catatonically incapable of making a decision.
The club is stuck in a Groundhog Day cycle. But unlike Bill Murray’s character Phil, who manages to finally climb over several philosophical brick walls, West Coast is stuck in a time loop, repeating the same mistakes.
So, the Eagles need to show some class and dignity and put Simpson out of his misery.
The 2018 premiership coach doesn’t deserve this level of humiliation. No coach does.
It’s like watching a poacher bludgeon a baby seal to death.
After the Eagles were demolished by the Swans on the weekend there is nothing left to spin. It’s time to stop pretending.
It would be like a Wall Street stockbroker telling his clients: “Look, I know you’ve all lost millions of dollars each over the past few months, but trust me, once I’m back from the Bahamas, our luck will change.”
West Coast needs to desist from the inauthentic, even unctuous nice-club persona and sack Simpson in a display of mercy because the embarrassing losses must be having a pernicious impact on his wellbeing.
In reality, several heads should roll at West Coast but the entrenched social norms of the AFL demand a coach be shown the door after a team hits rock bottom.
Adam Simpson. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Whether Simpson, who is contracted until 2025, deserves to go has become redundant.
The Eagles can no longer roll out that tiresome, over-abused encomium he is the right man to rebuild the club. At this stage in West Coast’s development, there isn’t a coach in the AFL that could turn the club’s dire misfortunes around.
But after the Sydney debacle, Simpson still maintains he wants to lead the club. One has to admire his mental fortitude.
There had been reports previously the board was divided about whether to turf out either Simpson or Nisbett.
Surely by now, the warring factions have smoked the peace pipe and universally agree that some brutal decisions need to be made at the club.
West Coast’s losses have reached shambolic levels never before seen at the club.
Let’s get the ugly, unwanted records out of the way. The 171-point mauling against the Swans is the biggest loss in the history of the club. West Coast conceded its highest-ever score – 205 points.
It was the equal fourth-biggest margin since the birth of the AFL.
Almost half of the West Coast players had fewer than 10 possession against Sydney.
The Swans had 12 separate goal-scorers and many others were lining up to join the party.
West Coast’s on-field performance has gone beyond a joke and become toxic.
West Coast has almost had a religious sense of belonging in the AFL because of their brand and success, but the club hierarchy can no longer pretend they’re blissfully unaware of how catastrophically crap they’ve become.
A few weeks ago I wrote that it would be reckless and foolish to solely blame Simpson for the club’s woeful form given the football gods have so cruelly targeted his team.
Now West Coast has no other choice but to sack him just to prove there is still a heartbeat at the club and preserve some professional integrity.
Yes, the Eagles have been crippled by injury but that excuse has become stale and lame.
When they got thumped by the Hawks last month, pundits were calling it the darkest day in the club’s history.
But after the farcical display on Saturday evening, the Eagles have plummeted to a level of bleakness befitting a Jean-Paul Sartre novel.
(Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
And West Coast’s existential woes appear seemingly unstoppable.
Footy fans can get caught up in puzzlingly overwrought emotions when their team is continually insipid and uncompetitive. But the growls of anger and rage have hit new highs.
But it’s worse than that. The fans withering venom towards West Coast means supporters are becoming increasingly disengaged.
Anger is morphing into apathy.
Canadian political philosopher John Ralston Saul once argued for an economic system to flourish it had to be killed economically and socially to be reborn clean and healthy.
If West Coast are going to return to being a powerhouse, then unfortunately the Eagles are going to have to mercifully terminate Simpson and a few others.
If the club doesn’t make some wholesale changes soon, it will be doomed to relive the same day over and over again, until West Coast gets it right.
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
Nah, they should sign him for a few more years. It'd be funny :happy:
Jimmy
Roar Rookie
Impossible! They're such a well run club. Every thing bad said about them is Vic bias
Jimmy
Roar Rookie
It's all media witchcraft!! Essendon's 16 flags, Collingwood's 15, Carlton's 16 - witchcraft! Burn em all!
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
I think you can de-read my post and see the rhetorical flourish. It’s what comes after that that matters. Anyway I don’t completely agree. Not after 9 years. Richmond a grand example But if they won’t play for a new coach - sayonara!
Doctor Rotcod
Roar Rookie
The WCE reserves are crying out for reserves-grade players, they'd fit in well.
Diesel-747
Roar Rookie
In the reserves ..
Diesel-747
Roar Rookie
Plenty - add Ed Curnow for a mentor role - owies and Motlop . There is a fist full- you’ll be back in 8 in no time . :boxing:
Tez
Roar Rookie
As I understand it the Eagles cannot afford financially to sack Simpson .... I read yesterday $2.5M payout and probable $4.5M salary soft cap fine from the AFL
Doctor Rotcod
Roar Rookie
I've got nothing against Brendan, and quoting Saul is just nerdy enough to have some bite, just that his last paragraph makes a statement that is still only one approach and not my view. To quote Mao Ze-dong "Let a hundred schools contend" . I thought BigFooty had some death riders and they're bashing their own side. I see that the ill-informed offer nothing new. Complacency? Talk to Collingwood supporters. All those flags we nearly won. Head in the sand? Bombers fans waiting for a finals win.
Simoc
Roar Rookie
Yes well the Weagles are rubbish and a blight on the AFL. Every team has injuries but the rest of the comp aren't feeble fools that sit back and use it as an excuse. The wimps from the west ain't going nowhere with the limp coach and weak Board!
Aransan
Roar Rookie
I believe any club that had West Coast’s injury list would struggle and it isn’t good if they have to select players such as Waterman to put 18 players on the field. It is too late now, but perhaps a general solution would be to allow a team in this situation to bolster their list by giving them say, six extra spots to be taken at the head of the mid season draft. The players selected would only be included on their list to the end of that season.
nics
Roar Rookie
Thanks for adding some sense to this discussion. A pity most are only after the cheap sound-bite.
nics
Roar Rookie
Got to be careful here Brendan- the Pies fans mortally wounded by only being rostered to play us once might start wringing their hands about fixture inequality again. The other fans complaining we get a soft ride from the media might also say you're not harsh enough. On a serious note - how does blowing up our soft cap by sacking Simpson and putting in a rookie solve anything?
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
The Eagles have had a horror couple of years with injury, with covid and there are a couple of points to keep mindful of. A club like the Eagles - when injuries become an issue then the impact is amplified by the travel schedule. That's a given. Another factor - and this has impacted my club NMFC - bottom clubs under the 6-6-6 rules no longer have the capacity to start a player or two behind the ball (extra numbers in defence). As nice a notion as the 6-6-6 is; it actually goes against decades, 100 years plus of stacking the backline when kicking against the wind. For the Eagles - - heck - - even Hawthorn on Sunday - - when momentum is 100% the wrong way; the capacity to close things down is massively limited. Anyway - - sacking Simpson won't be a magical cure for anything.
Jimmy
Roar Rookie
Nail. Head. You just need to read the comments from Eagles fans on Roar to demonstrate this - you would think they were on top of the ladder with some of the things they say. "Remember that one time we kicked that one goal though! That was sweet". I hope they don't change though. This general smugness is how they have found themselves in this mess.
Jimmy
Roar Rookie
Would be your three best players
Grwin
Roar Rookie
The club has become something like a fat cat, full of itself and sleeping on the couch all day. They focused on things like changing the song and becoming a pseudo-American-styled corporate entity. We don't have a banner. Our cheer squad is never on the ground; The players enter the ground through a blowup tent. Talk about disconnecting yourself from those pesky fans. They took our membership numbers for granted and just let the football part of things lope along. And it filtered into the senior players, who by and large have been lacking desperation since the end of 2019. Covid was the best excuse for our club, enabling it to ignore what was happening. The club always touted, "When we get our full team back, it'll be okay." And then, when the best team made it to the park, they barely held their own, and there was usually a raft of injuries at the end of the match. Not just once but every time. All this complacency has to be laid at the feet of both the coach and management; for whatever reason, they have lost the plot, and I struggle to see how Adam Simpson can retain his position.
Simoc
Roar Rookie
West Coast are way to comfortable. Supporters waiting to join. No pressure on anybody. No wonder they can't win a footy game. The garbage is that it's the players. It's the fast asleep coach in cruise mode and the yellow spined Board happy to hold their spots and get free seats and grog at the supporters cost. They are pathetic!
Jimmy
Roar Rookie
Great article, Brendan. Really enjoyed it. Sorry in advance for the irrational attacks you're about to endure.
Nick
Roar Rookie
It feels like the veterans have stopped playing for Simmo. fair enough. No. Not fair enough. Not fair enough at all. If they aren't playing to their best, then they should be dropped. If that means more WAFL players and 200 point thrashings, then so be it. Would rather some semi-pro WAFL guy busting his guts out than some senior figure picking or choosing when he would like to perform because he doesn't like the coach. Players don't get to decide if they want to play for the coach or not.