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West Coast are considering sacking coach Adam Simpson as the fallout begins for the Eagles’ second consecutive season from hell, according to Eddie McGuire.
McGuire revealed on Nine’s Footy Classified on Wednesday night that the Eagles will be undergoing a period of upheaval in coming weeks, with long-term CEO Trevor Nisbett to leave once his contract finishes at the end of 2024 and Simpson now a chance to join him in exiting.
The Eagles have remained staunch in their support of Simpson despite torrid on-field results, with the injury-hit club winning just four matches in the last two years and regularly losing by more than 100 points in 2023.
However, McGuire claims the Eagles’ humiliating 101-point loss to Fremantle in Round 21’s Western Derby has shaken the board’s confidence in the 2018 premiership coach.
“Tonight I can tell you the board is contemplating whether to sack Adam Simpson. That is the situation,” McGuire said.
“Things seemed to be going along alright after the Essendon game, they thought everything was hanging together. But the total humiliation of what happened on the weekend against the Fremantle Dockers has now got this before the board.”
McGuire also said Simpson himself is aware of the situation.
“Adam Simpson knows this, because he’s actually said: ‘I want to know sooner rather than later’,” McGuire added.
“He’s a proud man, he’s a great coach, he’s a fantastic person and he deserves to get a quick answer – if, in fact, they have one.”
Simpson is contracted until the end of 2025 on a reported $800,000 per season, which given the AFL’s ‘soft cap’ restrictions would make sacking him financially hazardous.
However, McGuire believes the club is prepared to take the hit, plus a reported $4 million football department tax.
“They have more money than God and they’re prepared to spend it,” the former Collingwood president said.
Former great and McGuire’s Footy Classified co-panellist Matthew Lloyd voiced his support for moving Simpson on, saying urgent action is required to turn things around for the embattled Eagles, who sit last on the ladder with just two wins and a dire percentage of 50.6.
“Trevor Nisbett and Adam Simpson have been wonderful for the West Coast Eagles, great people, they’ve been brilliant. But it’s obviously gone off the rails the last three years,” Lloyd said.
“Their football is not good. Off-field fine, but the football is terrible… this is a five-year build, this is a long journey, and no one could say Adam is up for five years.
“He might go, ‘well I am’, but I just think if you’re a player… you need a broom to come through.”
The Eagles are yet to respond to McGuire’s claims.
Calling the allegations “absolute rubbish” and the matter irrelevant, Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has brushed aside the latest claims made against him.
The Demons have also released a statement slamming the latest media report in former Melbourne president Glen Bartlett’s long-running dispute with the club.
Melbourne have confirmed WorkSafe Victoria is investigating matters at the club.
Bartlett suddenly stepped down as Melbourne president in April 2021, and was replaced by Kate Roffey. He has been at war with the Demons ever since.
“I’ve said for three years it’s an irrelevant story to me. The club and I have been really clear on our stance of where we see it,” Goodwin said on Thursday.
“It’s absolute rubbish that’s been put in there and I’ve been pretty clear with it.
“I just can’t give it the energy that people want me to. It’s not something I get too concerned about – I have a footy team to worry about.”
After the latest allegations against Goodwin emerged in the media on Wednesday, the club issued a statement calling them outrageous.
“The board of the Melbourne Football Club unequivocally refute the unsubstantiated, historical and outrageous accusations against Simon Goodwin and other club leaders as published in [Wednesday’s] Herald Sun,” the statement read.
(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
“The views expressed by Ms Laspas [Bartlett’s partner, Vicki] are her recollection of historical events and are in direct contrast with the recollections of the Melbourne Football Club Board.
“The board are unanimous and united in their support of Simon Goodwin and are dismayed that he and his family will need to again endure this attempt to undermine his outstanding reputation as a club leader.
“In regard to the Worksafe complaint made by Ms Laspas, the Club has responded to Worksafe’s requests for documentation.
“This includes providing documents and proof that contradict and refute claims made by Ms Laspas.
“Over the last two years, Mr Bartlett and his partner Ms Laspas have continued to make accusations about club leaders that are baseless.”
On the eve of the 2022 season, the Demons supported Goodwin after Bartlett’s concern over the coach’s alleged behaviour at, and out of, the club became public.
(AAP)
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