Coach Adam Simpson Megathread est. 2017 - Skip to 2024: Simpson coaching tenure officially ends

[HoneyBadger35]

 

[Goroyals22]

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[amazingjoshy]

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Most overblown thing I've ever seen.

They offered him a game and he didn't want it. And now he's tossing the coin. Big deal

Vic media would be potting us however it went down

 

[Goosecat]

The club really wanted him to coach a last game at home for optics/fan-base. Simmo didn't want to do it and Pykey's thought process was, right then; The club needs to make it clear we want him to coach or there will be blow-back/speculation from sections of the fan-base and media about the club handling it too ruthlessly, lacking respect and not offering the chance etc. That would then have to be clarified and start a back and forth in the media.. He decided to make it really clear, then and there, that the club was offering a goodbye coaching game. It meant putting pressure on Simmo, he knew that, but that was secondary to giving the right optics to the fan-base and media regarding the clubs intent.

 

[RookiePick]

Interesting interview with Simpson I reckon.

Essentially admitted we have nothing in the 24-28 range which covers such luminaries as Duggan, Allen, Ryan et al.

It was 30+ and young players who aren't quite ready in Simpsons opinion.

I reckon there would have been a fair bit of friction on that viewpoint with Pyke demanding some silk purses from Simpsons sow's ears.

I really think the coaching staff behaving like the BF board and writing blokes off would not be productive.

If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with.

Time will tell if Simpson was right but I have hope that there are multiple players that can provide better service than what we have seen under a new regime.

Simmo is all class but I am on board with a new vision of who we are, what we have and how to go about it.

 

[Shuestar13]

The outrage machine rolls on. Are they disappointed we haven’t behaved like one of their tin pot clubs when they normally sack their coaches, by throwing them out like yesterday’s trash?

If he’s comfortable with it, the general fan sentiment is a positive one and given his tenure and achievement (the flag) he deserves to go out with dignity and opportunity for a thank you from the supporters/members.

 

[langdon19]

Really mixed bag with Simpson and perhaps the club.
Absolute genius of a coach, personally think he overreached getting this group a premiership. The web in 2015 and ultimate glory in 2018 from this playing group is the best result in our history. I doubt any coach could have done better.
The shit sandwich, baffling decisions, from 2020 onwards have been terrible. The contracts, credits crew, team selection and a bloke who seems to be going through the motions has been horrible to watch.
Thanks for the memories Simmo.

 

[Bacchus]

I don't understand the carrying on about Pyke offering Simpson the option of a farewell game. The club wants to give supporters the opportunity to thank him for the 10 or so years and the 2018 flag. They want to frame the parting of the ways as not a dark chapter full of bad feeling in the club's history. If Simpson doesn't want to do it that is OK. I am OK with both it being offered to him and him deciding that he doesn't want to do it. We are likely to finish second bottom on the ladder. It is not like we are in contention for the 8 and this weekend is a must win game with no room for sentimentality.

The problem with it is the discordancy of it.

The bottom line of what happened is that the club sacked its coach. This is a painful event for Simpson and his family especially and many others as well. Everyone may want to still be friends despite this negative event occurring but this still doesn’t mean that it isn’t painful and difficult. The feelings are raw and strong. It isn’t just another week like the 242 others.

To think that Simpson could just front up and coach another week is somehow trivialising all the emotions. I can fully understand Simpson declining the offer. He said he couldn’t really see himself doing it, he didn’t have the heart for it.

I don’t think the offer should have been made in the first place. I think it was the right decision to sack him but it was still sad. The sadness cannot be smoothed over or fixed by coaching a last game. The sadness and pain remains for all, a final bonus game isn’t going to fix it.

 

[DanWCE]

The problem with it is the discordancy of it.

The bottom line of what happened is that the club sacked its coach. This is a painful event for Simpson and his family especially and many others as well. Everyone may want to still be friends despite this negative event occurring but this still doesn’t mean that it isn’t painful and difficult. The feelings are raw and strong. It isn’t just another week like the 242 others.

To think that Simpson could just front up and coach another week is somehow trivialising all the emotions. I can fully understand Simpson declining the offer. He said he couldn’t really see himself doing it, he didn’t have the heart for it.

I don’t think the offer should have been made in the first place. I think it was the right decision to sack him but it was still sad. The sadness cannot be smoothed over or fixed by coaching a last game. The sadness and pain remains for all, a final bonus game isn’t going to fix it.

I think there were 3 main reasons Simmo said no to coaching this week.

Firstly it's never been about him. He has always put his players first and applauded their efforts during our success. This is why he has grown particularly uncomfortable being front and centre of the media speculation, despite him also willingly shielding his men and taking bullets.

Secondly it means he would have had to front the media at least twice, potentially three or more times if you include radio. He knows the WA media, they are part of his current lack of steam to continue. What he also knows is rather than them ask questions about the footy they'll just pepper him with personal questions he doesn't want to answer because he doesn't want to be the story.

Thirdly he knows the players will want to play for him but may ultimately come up second best anyway. He doesn't want that hanging over their heads that they couldn't get a win for him, or if they somehow achieved it that they spend the rest of the season reflecting why they couldn't play like that weeks ago to save his job.

 

[Keys]

Simmo fronted up to 6PR for one final interview in his usual Thursday night time slot. Something he didn’t need to do but I think Adam Papalia is one media person he has respect for so he went on anyway. Did joke about if he was getting paid for it

He addressed the confusion over the farewell game and made it clear he felt at fault for it. Said he hoped Pyke wasn’t getting blamed for it and stressed how well he thought Pyke handled his termination

It was also clear that he really doesn’t like that newspaper. At one point it seemed like he was going to tee off but pulled back

Listening to him talk about selection and the pros and cons of choosing old over young players you can understand why some of the young players might have been. And also why it was necessary for him to be moved on - it was his blind spot

Good interview and it’s clear that there’s little, or none, of the animosity sacked coaches sometimes have towards their former club

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Mick still loves the club, Woosha still loves the club. It's a West Coast trait.

 

[WCErevival]

I dont think any ex coach could be angry at a club if they've spent a decade there. That's far longer than most coaches get and no matter how good you are there is always an expiry date.

 

[Rowan18]

Mick still loves the club, Woosha still loves the club. It's a West Coast trait.

It's why it's ludicrous that some poster on this board try to claim that no good coaches would want to come here. West Coast is one of the absolute best coaching opportunities in the country. Rich, successful club with a history of winning and looking after their coaches.

 

[hoss]

For god sakes get a good professional headphone. He said you'll have the same. Playing that audio through your phone is useless

Man, that's gotta hurt. Your professional headphones suck and you got dudded. Not even close to what Simmo said.

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[Deplorable trumpster]

Interesting interview with Simpson I reckon.

Essentially admitted we have nothing in the 24-28 range which covers such luminaries as Duggan, Allen, Ryan et al.

It was 30+ and young players who aren't quite ready in Simpsons opinion.

I reckon there would have been a fair bit of friction on that viewpoint with Pyke demanding some silk purses from Simpsons sow's ears.

I really think the coaching staff behaving like the BF board and writing blokes off would not be productive.

If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with.

Time will tell if Simpson was right but I have hope that there are multiple players that can provide better service than what we have seen under a new regime.

Simmo is all class but I am on board with a new vision of who we are, what we have and how to go about it.

Caro said he was pointing the finger at the drafting department behind closed doors for blowing draft picks and giving him poor quality cattle to work with. He did show a lot of discipline to never say that publicly when he was copping all the blame. It will be interesting now he has been sacked whether he starts publicly saying what he really thinks about the performance and output of other departments at the club over this recent period. He will have to sign a non - disparagement clause with the club in order to get his pay out so he won't be able to be too critical. But i think he could indicate what he thinks using clever language without crossing the red line.

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

If we had not offered Simpson a farewell game, or we had but did it quietly and privately and he said No and we never let it be known it was offered to him the Victorian media would take the opposite position and say the farewell was too clinical, low key and ungrateful and we hadn't done enough to honour and thank Simpson.

I think the better way for Pyke to have handled it would have been to offer it to Simpson privately and then when he says No (which he was always going to) tell the media off camera a day or two after the presser that it was offered and declined so the information got out there without Simpson being put on the spot.

 

[maverick001]

Simmo fronted up to 6PR for one final interview in his usual Thursday night time slot. Something he didn’t need to do but I think Adam Papalia is one media person he has respect for so he went on anyway. Did joke about if he was getting paid for it

He addressed the confusion over the farewell game and made it clear he felt at fault for it. Said he hoped Pyke wasn’t getting blamed for it and stressed how well he thought Pyke handled his termination

It was also clear that he really doesn’t like that newspaper. At one point it seemed like he was going to tee off but pulled back

Listening to him talk about selection and the pros and cons of choosing old over young players you can understand why some of the young players might have been. And also why it was necessary for him to be moved on - it was his blind spot

Good interview and it’s clear that there’s little, or none, of the animosity sacked coaches sometimes have towards their former club

He did make it pretty clear that he thinks the young guys in WAFL haven't been playing well enough to be selectable

 

[maverick001]

I dont think any ex coach could be angry at a club if they've spent a decade there. That's far longer than most coaches get and no matter how good you are there is always an expiry date.

Alastair Clarkson says hi.

You could argue that is exceptional circumstances though - with the whole racism mess.

 

[Footfalcon]

He did make it pretty clear that he thinks the young guys in WAFL haven't been playing well enough to be selectable

Other than the jack Williams pick last week, he isn't wrong. They've shown no guts or finesse. The wafl team should've been dissolved

 

[Rowan18]

Caro said he was pointing the finger at the drafting department behind closed doors for blowing draft picks and giving him poor quality cattle to work with. He did show a lot of discipline to never say that publicly when he was copping all the blame. It will be interesting now he has been sacked whether he starts publicly saying what he really thinks about the performance and output of other departments at the club over this recent period. He will have to sign a non - disparagement clause with the club in order to get his pay out so he won't be able to be too critical. But i think he could indicate what he thinks using clever language without crossing the red line.

I understand why he'd say that and if you genuinely believe you're doing a good job as coach, then of course it would appear that the recruiters were the problem. I think it's unjust though, they had a bad run from 2018-2020 with bad picks in shallow drafts, but I think they've been alright since 2021. The main criticism is they haven't found much from the speculative picks (Rookiees and third round onwards), however they seem to have done well in the mid season draft.

End of the day, we need bulk selections in bulk drafts to get it sorted, which we are doing. I think the success of the rebuild will come down to not messing up the 1st/2nd round picks and trading well to address needs. Let's see how they go with the trading this year.

 

[Smotie2]

Interesting interview with Simpson I reckon.

Essentially admitted we have nothing in the 24-28 range which covers such luminaries as Duggan, Allen, Ryan et al.

It was 30+ and young players who aren't quite ready in Simpsons opinion.

I reckon there would have been a fair bit of friction on that viewpoint with Pyke demanding some silk purses from Simpsons sow's ears.

I really think the coaching staff behaving like the BF board and writing blokes off would not be productive.

If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with.

Time will tell if Simpson was right but I have hope that there are multiple players that can provide better service than what we have seen under a new regime.

Simmo is all class but I am on board with a new vision of who we are, what we have and how to go about it.

Ken judge publicly said half the players on the list in 2001 weren't up to AFL standard and wouldn't make it... Worsfold won a flag with most of those same players.

There is a lot to be said about leadership and development. The new coach will have to identify the talent that is possibly there and just needs some confidence.

We all forget sometimes that it's painful for us as fans when the club is struggling like this but in the middle of it as a player it would have to be torment.
They would go through so much shit internally and feel the pressure 1000 times for them to perform knowing there is so much on the line including their own careers and how much the fans are riding on them just getting a win.

Remember these players had enough talent to get selected, that mean you can play and had enough ability to get drafted.

 

[Keys]

Chris Waterman was in SEN with Goosage and Cummings either yesterday or the day before

Asked about how long the rebuild would take he was quite optimistic and said whilst it looks bad there’s already more talent there than people think. Felt that with drafting well this year and next we could surprise

Which echoes what Pyke has said recently

He also said that Jake had never had any issues with Simpson

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Remember these players had enough talent to get selected, that mean you can play and had enough ability to get drafted.

And then you have Brander.

 

[Keys]

And then you have Brander.

Talent wasn’t the issue for Brander. Had more of it than Allen

What he didn’t have, unfortunately, was the same competitive streak that Allen has in spades

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Ken judge publicly said half the players on the list in 2001 weren't up to AFL standard and wouldn't make it... Worsfold won a flag with most of those same players.

There is a lot to be said about leadership and development. The new coach will have to identify the talent that is possibly there and just needs some confidence.

We all forget sometimes that it's painful for us as fans when the club is struggling like this but in the middle of it as a player it would have to be torment.
They would go through so much shit internally and feel the pressure 1000 times for them to perform knowing there is so much on the line including their own careers and how much the fans are riding on them just getting a win.

Remember these players had enough talent to get selected, that mean you can play and had enough ability to get drafted.

Many young men are being drafted on the potential to be a good footballer, that does not mean they are a good footballer.
Once upon a time Football clubs only drafted good footballers. Now if you can run football clubs think they can turn you into a footballer. Which they can't.