As you should.
Coach Adam Simpson Megathread est. 2017 - Staying for 2024, Lyon’s Cryin’
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So just sayin,
The media slayed us. Talk of how proud weare were as a club, talk of how rubbish we are because we have no kids whereas North do....
We're still a proud club. Just taking our turn down the bottom as intended by the draft.
As for North? Of course they have better kids. They have been down the bottom for a lot longer.
And Simmo?
Just leave him there scooping up draft picks until the right option comes.
All is good. Just watching the kids. No expectation on results.
The media slayed us. Talk of how proud we
We're still a proud club. Just taking our turn down the bottom as intended by the draft.
As for North? Of course they have better kids. They have been down the bottom for a lot longer.
And Simmo?
Just leave him there scooping up draft picks until the right option comes.
All is good. Just watching the kids. No expectation on results.
Keys
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Was unsure where to post this but given the article discusses Simpson’s future in particular, here will do. It also sheds a little light on why Simpson was given the extension he was - so we had an experienced coach to navigate the club through the necessity list transition/rebuild
Now whether you agree with the sentiments or not, it gives a pretty good detail of where the clubs thinking is at
West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett has publicly acknowledged for the first time that the club is in rebuild mode, throwing his support behind coach Adam Simpson as the man to guide it.
The league’s longest serving club CEO said the confidence of the Eagles had taken a major hit during the Covid-19 pandemic and the injury-riddled, two-win season of 2022 and would take time to rebuild, as would player stocks.
“The strategy is to get games into our kids. We need to work through the rebuild, transition, whatever you like to call it,” Nisbett told CODE Sports.
He had spoken to longstanding club members at a function at the club’s Mineral Resources Park headquarters on Tuesday and warned them there was some “pain ahead”.
He told CODE Sports on Wednesday that the Eagles would be trying to win every game but would be playing a mix of youth and experience in 2022.
An experienced coach like Simpson was required to balance the need to play youngsters while keeping the support of older players around them.
“That’s why an experienced coach is critical in this development phase and Adam after nine years with us is an experienced coach,” Nisbett said. “He knows he has to get the balance right. You can’t just play a team of 22 inexperienced players. You need experience around some of the kids we are bringing in.
“You also have to give the kids the opportunity to perform. We are going to play senior players who we believe are contributing – that is what Adam will continue to do.”
He described scathing criticism of the club from commentator Garry Lyon labelling the club the Rest Coast Eagles as “an opinion from a long way away”.
“He doesn’t see the effort that the staff and the players are putting in and if he says it is a lack of effort in a particular game or a particular quarter he could be justified in his opinion if he wants to think that way,” he said.
“We don’t think that way. Our opinion is that we want to improve and we will work on it to improve. That is what we have to do.
“But we will be going into every game to try and win it. There is no question about that.”
y to turn things around and get things going,” he continued. “We also took a very big confidence hit last year regardless of the circumstances and we need to gain some confidence.”
Nisbett said a second half fightback against North Melbourne, coming from 33 points down to lose by five, was encouraging. But the second quarter, when the Eagles fell away in the contest, was “totally unacceptable”.
“We were very unhappy with that,” he said. “Adam pointed that out to the players at half time and post match and I think he even said it in his media conference. He was very displeased with that.”
Nisbett labelled losing a “painful” experience but believed the Eagles had been through the worst part of the rebuild already.
“I think we went through the worst of it last year with our health and fitness,” he said. “You couldn’t experience what the players and everyone were going through last year. It was terrible.
“Winning is a big part of this industry but it is also building an opportunity to come out the other side – that is what we are trying to do.”
He took no notice of speculation about Simpson’s job security as senior coach.
“I have never been concerned about what people external to the footy club think about staff or coaches or whatever. We believe we know what we are doing so we follow the process,” he said.
“This is not new. This didn’t happen because we lost a game to North Melbourne. This is not a new thing. We were experiencing a lot of this last year and it is painful. No-one likes losing.”
Covid-19 and injuries last year had meant the club’s coaches had had no continuity and had not been able to train a new game style, he said.
“Fortunately we have now got numbers on the track and we have the ability to implement a different game strategy which is what we have been trying to do,” he said.
“We have only had the players back for two and a half months and it will take a bit of time to get it all right.”
Now whether you agree with the sentiments or not, it gives a pretty good detail of where the clubs thinking is at
West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett has publicly acknowledged for the first time that the club is in rebuild mode, throwing his support behind coach Adam Simpson as the man to guide it.
The league’s longest serving club CEO said the confidence of the Eagles had taken a major hit during the Covid-19 pandemic and the injury-riddled, two-win season of 2022 and would take time to rebuild, as would player stocks.
“The strategy is to get games into our kids. We need to work through the rebuild, transition, whatever you like to call it,” Nisbett told CODE Sports.
He had spoken to longstanding club members at a function at the club’s Mineral Resources Park headquarters on Tuesday and warned them there was some “pain ahead”.
He told CODE Sports on Wednesday that the Eagles would be trying to win every game but would be playing a mix of youth and experience in 2022.
An experienced coach like Simpson was required to balance the need to play youngsters while keeping the support of older players around them.
“That’s why an experienced coach is critical in this development phase and Adam after nine years with us is an experienced coach,” Nisbett said. “He knows he has to get the balance right. You can’t just play a team of 22 inexperienced players. You need experience around some of the kids we are bringing in.
“You also have to give the kids the opportunity to perform. We are going to play senior players who we believe are contributing – that is what Adam will continue to do.”
He described scathing criticism of the club from commentator Garry Lyon labelling the club the Rest Coast Eagles as “an opinion from a long way away”.
“He doesn’t see the effort that the staff and the players are putting in and if he says it is a lack of effort in a particular game or a particular quarter he could be justified in his opinion if he wants to think that way,” he said.
“We don’t think that way. Our opinion is that we want to improve and we will work on it to improve. That is what we have to do.
“But we will be going into every game to try and win it. There is no question about that.”
y to turn things around and get things going,” he continued. “We also took a very big confidence hit last year regardless of the circumstances and we need to gain some confidence.”
Nisbett said a second half fightback against North Melbourne, coming from 33 points down to lose by five, was encouraging. But the second quarter, when the Eagles fell away in the contest, was “totally unacceptable”.
“We were very unhappy with that,” he said. “Adam pointed that out to the players at half time and post match and I think he even said it in his media conference. He was very displeased with that.”
Nisbett labelled losing a “painful” experience but believed the Eagles had been through the worst part of the rebuild already.
“I think we went through the worst of it last year with our health and fitness,” he said. “You couldn’t experience what the players and everyone were going through last year. It was terrible.
“Winning is a big part of this industry but it is also building an opportunity to come out the other side – that is what we are trying to do.”
He took no notice of speculation about Simpson’s job security as senior coach.
“I have never been concerned about what people external to the footy club think about staff or coaches or whatever. We believe we know what we are doing so we follow the process,” he said.
“This is not new. This didn’t happen because we lost a game to North Melbourne. This is not a new thing. We were experiencing a lot of this last year and it is painful. No-one likes losing.”
Covid-19 and injuries last year had meant the club’s coaches had had no continuity and had not been able to train a new game style, he said.
“Fortunately we have now got numbers on the track and we have the ability to implement a different game strategy which is what we have been trying to do,” he said.
“We have only had the players back for two and a half months and it will take a bit of time to get it all right.”
Miguel Sanchez
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You don’t say, Trev?
In regards to football, it's a good attitude to have.
I probably should have read that article and posted in this thread instead but the Simmo chat is in several threads at the moment. Aaanyway:
I'm not of the opinion Simmo has been there too long. It's a loveless job coaching a team through a list transition and development phase. We need a seasoned coach who can deflect player criticism, absorb club criticism and create a sanctuary to nurture talent.
So many coaches get turfed before the list build is finished because of media and supporter pressure. This often seems to kick the can down the road and the next coach is gone within a couple of years.
Simmo may not be head coach when we make finals next or really challenge for a flag, but while we stock up on youth and have delicate conversations with legacy players hanging up the boots, I think he's better suited than any alternatives to be in the role. Could be why he ended up getting another year at all, as the club realised the position it was in and how long it would take to turn around.
I'm not of the opinion Simmo has been there too long. It's a loveless job coaching a team through a list transition and development phase. We need a seasoned coach who can deflect player criticism, absorb club criticism and create a sanctuary to nurture talent.
So many coaches get turfed before the list build is finished because of media and supporter pressure. This often seems to kick the can down the road and the next coach is gone within a couple of years.
Simmo may not be head coach when we make finals next or really challenge for a flag, but while we stock up on youth and have delicate conversations with legacy players hanging up the boots, I think he's better suited than any alternatives to be in the role. Could be why he ended up getting another year at all, as the club realised the position it was in and how long it would take to turn around.
Forward Press
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Thompson, Malthouse, Clarkson, Beveridge, Hardwick, Goodwin and C Scott (the last seven premiership coaches aside from Simmo) have had many questions asked before they won their flag (in C Scott's case, almost immediately after he won with his 'inherited from Bomber Thompson' list in 2011) as to whether they were capable of rebuilding and rejigging a side after many years in the job, to win a premiership.
There is value in backing a coach in modern times for a rebuild (look at Carlton, Essendon etc for what happens when you don't), we did the same with Worsfold post-2010 and were rewarded until he obviously felt like he couldn't deliver any more, but Simmo inherited a list in better shape and with a bit of luck managed to deliver us yet another flag.
I can understand the pressure, and if this year is another stinker I think he should indeed depart, but I suspect any new coach would not do any better.
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Pathetic on so many fronts. Totally garbled and schizophrenic thought process.
"Rebuild" had been a dirty word that the club had banned. And they were publicly spruiking and predicting a top 8 finish a few months ago and scoffing at the rest of the industry who thought that that was totally off the cards. Now, after a very underwhelming Round 1 performance, they pivot to doing interviews where they freely throw the word "Rebuild" around and say we are going to have to go through some pain. This is a massive PR pivot. After Round 1 he is trying to take back all the happy talk crap he and the board spewed at us at the end of 2022 and avoid being hoisted by his own petard. This is a Full Reverse Ferret on their big talk post 2022 after just one round of 2023. He wants us to forget that he was totally, totally wrong with his view and the direction he pushed things in post 2022 and wants to now pretend he was always calling for a rebuild.
This on top of angrily denying there were any fitness issues with the playing group in 2022 and then admitting it and using it as an excuse for the results 6 months later.
Plus, he is rolling out excuses for more awful performances rather than talking about how they will generate improvement. Covid and injuries were the 2022 excuse. Post traumatic stress from the injuries and Covid in 2022 is now the official excuse for 2023 by the sounds of it.
Plus, it is not a particularly young team we put out as he claimed, as pointed out in the east coast media. It was the 5th most experienced 22 on the park in round 1.
Sorry Trevor, you are in a high performance environment. As is Simpson and as are the players. And you are very, very well compensated for it. No excuses matter and there is no sympathy vote in a high performance environment. Perform or get sacked. Those are your options. You are not a single Mom working in call centre who didn't fill her quota of call this month and deserves to be cut some slack. You are paid probably over a million a year as CEO. Simpson is probably close to a million a year. Don't try and play the sympathy card. Perform or GTFO.
Don't underestimate the significance of this. Nisbett very rarely does media. He would only do some impromptu media like this if he has a message he wants to get out pretty urgently. It is not accidental. And the message is that he waving the white flag after Round 1, trying to do a massive PR pivot and crab walk away from the "We will have a rapid rebound and make the 8" happy talk last year. He is trying to get in front of what he clearly thinks will be bad results.
The wily weagle
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Trevs thoughts process seems to be something like this:
"I value stability"
"I value stability, because stability means things rarely get changed"
"If things rarely get changed and the status quo remains the same, I remain CEO for as long as I wish"
He has been good for the club, but he has been at his post for far too long. He is accountable to nobody except himself and needs to be moved on
"I value stability"
"I value stability, because stability means things rarely get changed"
"If things rarely get changed and the status quo remains the same, I remain CEO for as long as I wish"
He has been good for the club, but he has been at his post for far too long. He is accountable to nobody except himself and needs to be moved on
Please don't suggest going down the Carlton/Melbourne route of 'playing the youth'. Surefire way to be unsuccessful for the next decade at least.
3 first game players on the weekend not enough for you?
Who would you have played in lieu of these underperforming senior players in round 1?
Keys
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For the record
“The strategy is to get games into our kids. We need to work through the rebuild, transition, whatever you like to call it,” Nisbett told CODE Sports.
That was the only direct quote attributable to Nisbett in that article that uses the word rebuild and is in line with what Simpson said prior to the North game
I like Duffield as a journalist but he’s been pushing the rebuild line quite aggressively of late as if what anyone calls what we’re doing at the moment makes a difference
It’s clear we’re moving away from senior players to a younger squad but are spreading that process out over 2 or 3 years rather than throwing everything out all at once. Comparing us to Hawthorn over the next 5 years will be intriguing given they’ve gone the scorched earth route
Forward Press
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Miguel Sanchez
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What? He’s done a crapload lately.
Bender_
X
Anyone else notice how Nisbett wasn't at Venables's wedding? Can't help but think this doesn't bode well for Worsfold Simpson.
Not many coaches succeed in taking a team from the top, to the bottom and then back. That might be because they get sacked before finishing the job or that they are the reason the club hit the bottom (due to outdated ideas, losing the players etc).
Clarko failed terribly at Hawthorn and they look like they will go the full 10 year rebuild. Chris Scott never came close to bottoming and Bomber Thompson left near the top. Malthouse is one of the only ones who went from GF (in 02 and 03) back down and then up to a flag. Sheedy probably did too (but I don't know if Bombers bottomed as I dont know their history well in the 80s/90s).
Woosh half succeeded. He got us back up in 11/12 but lost the plot completely in 2013 (I'm still to hear exactly what went wrong there).
I agree that Simmo gets this year, but if we finish bottom 2, his papers are probably stamped unless his has a great 2024.
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I think you are missing the point.
The point is that this is a massive PR pivot from Nisbett. This is not random. Nisbett doesn't do random media hits. When somebody like Nisbett does a media hit ask yourself why he is doing it and what message is he is pushing? He only does media when he has a message to push.
What was the message being pushed - seeding the excuses for poor performances (i.e. Blaming 2022 for 2023) and backtracking out of predicting top 8 to now saying we have to go through this pain. He has seen enough and is waving the white flag. Thats the message being pushed. He is doing what Special Forces call a pre mortem, which is before a mission go through all the reasons why it might fail and what could go wrong. Except instead of doing it to fix the problems as Special Forces do he is doing it to publish it as a set of excuses for the expected failure.
In all honesty, why would anybody want somebody in charge who is saying this stuff? Some of the excuses might have some validity. I am sure the club's confidence was shaken by 2022. But he shouldn't be out there making excuses for poor performances before they have even hapenned. He needs to be focussed on generating improvement. And he shouldn't be focussing the club's collective minds on negatives and putting out a subconscious message that poor performances are O.K. by giving them excuses for it.
A bit like how Ross Lyon used to say that the venue of the games was irrelevent to his teams chances and that Freo were an "Anywhere, Anytime" team. Of course he knows that venue does mattter. Freo's chances of winning were going to be much higher if it was a home game. But he wanted to take the venue excuse out of is teams mind so they didn't think that it was OK to throw away games and put in less than 100% when playing away from home because it is all too hard.
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You think we'll pay Simmo out two years? I don't think he's being judged directly on W and L this year. It might be seen as advantageous finishing bottom two. It'll be the manner of the way we lose that is judged internally.
We won't sack him this year, but once 2024 starts, that year is already budgeted. We'd just get Knights or Schofield to audition for the rest of the year so only pay Simmo one year outside the Cao (for 2025).
Jesus - I just realised Simmo first coached the year I turned 29 and his contract goes through to when I turn 40. That's a pretty long gig.
I can't see him staying if we go 1-10 or something like that. He's not the super coach I thought he might be, he's taken us to a premiership yes well done and to a GF but beyond that he hasn't even taken us beyond a semi final. He's a 7/10 coach, in comparison Woosh was a 5/6 out of 10 coach and Malthouse was a 9/10.
His gameplan has been worked out and is obsolete & he doesn't have the nous to evolve the style or create a new one. The feeling of death around the club will continue until we move him on and the rebuild is officially started.
On SM-S901E using BigFooty.com mobile app
His gameplan has been worked out and is obsolete & he doesn't have the nous to evolve the style or create a new one. The feeling of death around the club will continue until we move him on and the rebuild is officially started.
On SM-S901E using BigFooty.com mobile app
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So Knights or Schoey head coach for assistant coach pay packet? I wouldn't take that on.
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I too forgot about this extra magical year he found with his contract
Rules out any potential sacking in 2023 completely, regardless of how the team performs. He's got until mid 2024 at the earliest now before he'd feel any heat IMO.
Paying out 1 year on a contract is fine, but paying out 2 years isn't happening.
Or a coaching transition plan is being worked on. / agreed.
And an opportunity with a certain coach / coaches wont open until say 2024 or 25.!
Dream scenario. End of 2024 Simpson finishes up. Thanks for the memories Simo.
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They bring Angus and Logan with them.. Warner can join later when he's a fa.
DO IT!
Monocle
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The similarities are uncanny.
The mouth piece of a former Super Power prattling out feel good stories, believing that those who read and hear the comforting words, believe the bullsh!t and unreservedly buy into the company line.
When in fact, those in the masses in reality don't actually buy the putrid drivel thats those in the seats of power spruik.
Some of those peeps in positions of power are now beyond their " best before date" and are ...... sadly in denial and seriously need to visit:
RealityChecks R U.
Sad but true.
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