Coach Adam Simpson Megathread est. 2017 - Staying for 2024, Lyon’s Cryin’

[WestCoast05]

Hard to get repeat or threepeat Premierships from W.A.
Thought these stats were relevant...stats approx.
Since 2000 - 2023, Vic clubs have won 15 times, with 12 runner ups = 27 total Vic clubs represented in GF's since 2000 versus Non Vic clubs -have won 8 times with 10 runner ups = 18 representations.
Vic 27 vs. rest of country 18.
W.A clubs represented 5 times as winners+runner ups. (WC-2 wins, 2 runner ups. Freo - 1 runner up)
QLD - 4 times
NSW - 3 times.
SA - 3 times
It's not a monopoly? Perhaps we and the Footy media biz should be focussing on change on the AFL board and the arrogance, instead of WCE? (different thread perhaps)

I think we need to consider the fact that 5 of those non-Victorian Premierships were COLA assisted, plus 2 of the runner ups.
Port also got their Premiership making use of their starting momentum (and good on them for making the most of it, GWS and GC squandered theirs', but you could argue the AFL themselves were also to blame for that)

So we actually have been quite the anomoly in terms of non-Victorian Success.

 

[boondy]

Don Pyke imo is the absolute best person for the role of CEO of the club.

1. He breathes footy and has been successful through all areas.
2. He is financially a very well connected and intelligent man.
3. He understands the balance and the importance of relationships throughout not only the WCE but also through WA footy in general. (this will likely lead to much better relations with WAFL clubs and the WAFC)
4. He doesn't take bullshit and is willing to be a hard arse when required. (this is potentially what makes him a significantly better operations manager or CEO than senior coach)
5. He has been at multiple clubs in multiple states and is currently involved at a high level in footy so is more in touch with current and future requirements than almost all other options.

I would go as far as to say he is almost uniquely qualified for the role at West Coast.

No thanks . Pyke was part of the Adelaide demise of 2017 . The Camp .

 

[ghostbat12]

From what I have heard [from people in Sydney], D.Cox said no and wants to continue with the current Sydney build before moving elsewhere.

Surprised by Cox declaring no interest and a lack of short-listed alternatives available, West Coast decided to stay with Simpson.


Same source also believes D.Pyke will replace Nisbett next year as Eagles CEO.

Dean cox has always been a bit of a buffoon. I just can’t picture players taking him seriously.

I am of view that next ceo should decide the coach. Can’t blame anyone else then for coach selection and members of board aren’t stupid. They want the ceo to take ownership and if he/she are placed in position that they have an excuse, it’s not going to go well.

One thing for sure, I am sick of listening to Simpson and his credits. Langer disillusioned his entire team and still can’t understand or accept what the issue was. His opinion may not be the best.

 

[The Magenius]

Barrass has already said he's staying putt and the talk around Ryan was naff. Whether Simpson was here or not wouldn't impact that.

I remember Judd saying his was staying also. Not really too much benefit him saying he is leaving at the moment if he still intends to, doesn't help anyone.

I am just glad the announcement has come so promptly after seasons end.

It’s will be interesting to see how Simpson realigns going forward, because if he doesn’t its not going to translate any differently on field.

As you rightfully say the credits policy must be the FIRST thing that he jettisons.

I am not convinced that he has a game plan to make it back to the top contender ranks….time will tell.

For a Board that’s been so indecisive and wishy washy, thankfully they have come out early with their announcement.

Clearly it’s not going to thrill all supporters but the decision has been made, so we best just get on with supporting the Club we all hold dear to our hearts.

As for the media and their not so subtle hit man antics on Simpson …….. can I say on behalf of all EAGLES fans …. A big to you.

I'm interested to get your take on our game plan and how it differs to the better sides.Can you explain specifically what you mean.

 

[Astro7]

I think we need to consider the fact that 5 of those non-Victorian Premierships were COLA assisted, plus 2 of the runner ups.
Port also got their Premiership making use of their starting momentum (and good on them for making the most of it, GWS and GC squandered theirs', but you could argue the AFL themselves were also to blame for that)

So we actually have been quite the anomoly in terms of non-Victorian Success.

It wasn't really about us, about the stacked numbers in the Vic camp, but thats footy and will take a long time to change into a truly national competition with reduced vic teams and a level-ish playing field. But this is the wrong thread.

 

[TheGhostOfJohnBelushi]

You'd love all media folk who told us "I've heard he's gone" to now have to tell us who their incorrect sources were.

Won't happen.

tell us who their sources were

Hypocrite.

 

[ROO DOGG]

Ultimately there's more to replacing a coach than just firing the one you have.

The real question is, who is available that is better placed than Simmo to take us into next season? Who would improve us to the point that we could justify the payout?

I'm no Simmophant. I started the thread questioning some of his decisions in '17. But he's always been a well natured and humble leader who puts the players first. This may be to our detriment sometimes, consider the credits crew, but it did win us a flag so you can understand his hesitancy in going away from this familial approach.

He's a smart guy. He knows changes are needed. Unfortunately he hasn't been in a place to enforce these changes due to perhaps the worst 2 year injury run in recent memory. So the true test will be next year.

I think based on the football we played at the start and the end of the season, there is plenty of cause for optimism under Simpson.

If this doesn't occur, I don't think the bleaters will have to endure for long. He'll fall on his sword for this club - it's just the kind of guy he is.

I hope he's the coach up on the stand as we win our next flag. I genuinely believe he's capable of that, and Hewett-Reid-Ginbey will be key to it (please don't trade Pick 1).

Welcome back Simmo. We love ya.

This is the part where the haters conveniently overlook. When we have had a fit list(not very often) the new game plan looks awesome. Its exciting, fast, all or nothing footy. If the cattle is not there it gets exposed extremely badly but its the nature of all or nothing football. When we build a talented, fast, skilful list, our forwards will be feasting. The drafting has been centred around this game plan the last few years, it would be a shame to throw it all away before the fruit starts appearing.

 

[FKASC]

When we have had a fit list(not very often) the new game plan looks awesome.

Let’s no go too far the other way.

Our team that lost by 171 to Sydney included:
Yeo
Shuey
Kelly
Sheed
Barrass
Duggan
Gaff
Allen
Darling
Hunt
Petch
Witherden
Ginbey/Hewett etc

We had a lot of experience on the park a lot of the time this year. Not saying Simpson shouldn’t have been retained, but lets not go overboard

 

[Tugga27]

I remember Judd saying his was staying also. Not really too much benefit him saying he is leaving at the moment if he still intends to, doesn't help anyone.

I'm interested to get your take on our game plan and how it differs to the better sides.Can you explain specifically what you mean.

Pretty sure Judd wan uncontracted, so there's a bit of a difference.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

I would really hope the players who have come out in strong support will now go away and put in their greatest ever pre seasons. Get fitter than they have ever been and commit to paying their best week in week out.
The new young players coming into the squad need the standards set by these senior players. It's not about wins it's about standards.
Don't set yourself to reach so called AFL std, pick great players from the better clubs and try and match the standards they set themselves. if you are a midfielder then find out what levels the likes of Oliver, Daicos etc are setting themselves and that needs to be the std.

New standards which have not been part of the club for many years now need to be set so these young kids know what it takes.

 

[Monocle]

I'm interested to get your take on our game plan and how it differs to the better sides.Can you explain specifically what you mean.

Really short reply, but significant points:

Too slow with ball movement.

Very little over lap of players sprinting forward to get to the next play involvement.

Lack of run and carry, forcing the opposition to come to the ball carrying player, which creates time and space for team mates ahead of play.

When we run as a group we don’t cover enough ground vertically but concentrate of horizontal running lines - once opposition force play over our horizontal line then the ground opens up for them.
See the Sydney game at Optus when the Swans out worked our horizontal defensive lines and then blew up apart with overlap.

We still corral and don’t attack the opposition ball carrier enough.

Obsession with guarding space rather than attacking the opposition with ball.

Still kick backwards way too often rather than forwards in defence.

Kick in structures way to predictable, therefore easier to plan against for opposition coaches.

Obsession with 1-5 to 2 meter handballs to teammates that puts them under the pump.

Lack of shepherding and supporting team mates who have the ball.
Best thing you can give a teammate is more time and space with which to move the ball.

These are the obvious ones, hence short version.

You have two aspects of game plan:

1. Your style of ball movement.

2. Tactics as to how to implement said game plan.

We are too static and very predictable.

 

[bzparkes]

Really short reply, but significant points:

 

[Astro7]

Let’s no go too far the other way.

Our team that lost by 171 to Sydney included:
Yeo
Shuey
Kelly
Sheed
Barrass
Duggan
Gaff
Allen
Darling
Hunt
Petch
Witherden
Ginbey/Hewett etc

We had a lot of experience on the park a lot of the time this year. Not saying Simpson shouldn’t have been retained, but lets not go overboard

They must've all had flu?
But that's a very good point you make. When you look at that list and experience it's like wtf?
Lose by 30 points sure...but 171? Maybe it was that synergy thing?

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

Dean cox has always been a bit of a buffoon. I just can’t picture players taking him seriously.

I am of view that next ceo should decide the coach. Can’t blame anyone else then for coach selection and members of board aren’t stupid. They want the ceo to take ownership and if he/she are placed in position that they have an excuse, it’s not going to go well.

One thing for sure, I am sick of listening to Simpson and his credits. Langer disillusioned his entire team and still can’t understand or accept what the issue was. His opinion may not be the best.

Yeah. I loved Langer as a player. And i was p*ed at the time when the NSW clique got him sacked. But the more i hear about it the more clear it is that the whole team absolutely hated him. That takes some doing. Plus his 2IC McDonald was one of the ones caught on secret recording at that pub in Hobart slagging the s* out of him and calling him a psychopath along with Starc and Warner. On reflection, i think if you have managed to upset that many people 9who have a massive incentive to get along with you as best as they can) to that extent there must be something wrong with how you were going about things.

 

[Wooshaaaa]

Dean cox has always been a bit of a buffoon. I just can’t picture players taking him seriously.

I am of view that next ceo should decide the coach. Can’t blame anyone else then for coach selection and members of board aren’t stupid. They want the ceo to take ownership and if he/she are placed in position that they have an excuse, it’s not going to go well.

One thing for sure, I am sick of listening to Simpson and his credits. Langer disillusioned his entire team and still can’t understand or accept what the issue was. His opinion may not be the best.

And we did so well in England under Langers replacement!! Sarcastic and rhetorical...no need to respond

On Pixel 6 Pro using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Ishmael_]

Let’s no go too far the other way.

Our team that lost by 171 to Sydney included:
Yeo
Shuey
Kelly
Sheed
Barrass
Duggan
Gaff
Allen
Darling
Hunt
Petch
Witherden
Ginbey/Hewett etc

We had a lot of experience on the park a lot of the time this year. Not saying Simpson shouldn’t have been retained, but lets not go overboard

That was an ultra grim period.

But I don't think the problem this year was so much the 'names' missing but more so the lack of fitness, cohesion and conditioning that comes from interrupted pre-seasons and constantly coming back from injury - across all age demographics.

You could have a team filled with O'Neill calibre players and we wouldn't have had these blowouts if they were match hardened and fit.

 

[darksquare]

Yeah. I loved Langer as a player. And i was p*ed at the time when the NSW clique got him sacked. But the more i hear about it the more clear it is that the whole team absolutely hated him. That takes some doing. Plus his 2IC McDonald was one of the ones caught on secret recording at that pub in Hobart slagging the s* out of him and calling him a psychopath along with Starc and Warner. On reflection, i think if you have managed to upset that many people 9who have a massive incentive to get along with you as best as they can) to that extent there must be something wrong with how you were going about things.

Justin Langer has always managed to piss people off. In juniors, in grade cricket (including me, as it happens) and in international cricket. He's not a man with a great deal of nuance. Of course, with that comes absolute loyalty to "his people", Adam Simpson clearly being one.

 

[FKASC]

You could have a team filled with O'Neill calibre players and we wouldn't have had these blowouts if they were match hardened and fit.

I would agree if every game was like the Adelaide game, and we get blown away after half time. But there were a few matches where we got blown away as soon as the opposition got a couple of quick goals in Q1.

Unfortunately our mental fitness has been as brittle as our soft tissues. Hopefully the next Strength and Conditioning regime takes a more holistic approach

 

[Ishmael_]

I would agree if every game was like the Adelaide game, and we get blown away after half time. But there were a few matches where we got blown away as soon as the opposition got a couple of quick goals in Q1.

Unfortunately our mental fitness has been as brittle as our soft tissues. Hopefully the next Strength and Conditioning regime takes a more holistic approach

There's a definite 'too hard' element that has infected the players, especially the seniors, for a while. That's on the coaches and them.

I also think there's a confidence piece too which is interrelated with physical health. Where you do a 'good preseason', get injured, come back, get thrown in too early when not fit and you give up.

I don't think you can fix the mental without the physical.

 

[Astro7]

Simmo sends his regards to the Vic media....

 

[eaglesnutcase]

Just over a year on from the debacle that was Essendon sacking Rutten. The rumoring, the conflicting board takes, the dick measuring games, the historical figures coming up for a say, the mixed messages, then the decision to bring in a coach who effectively has produced similar results to the prior two seasons. And the internal shenanigans still continue....

West Coast have just enacted the model of GREAT GOVERNANCE.

I couldn't be prouder of the top brass today. The toughest decision to take was to stick fat with Simpson, go against the musings of the click economy and snub all the 10-second analysts with a hot take. The biggest flock of one-thought sheep are so many of them.

"Fresh voice, new ideas, revived energy".

For every Macrae and Kingsley, there's 3-4 of Watters, Richardson, Ratten, Noble, Shaw, Rutten, Dew, Sanderson, Pyke, Bolton, Teague.

Remember when Ross Lyon was on the nose at St Kilda. "His era's over, fresh voice, new ideas..." they played with his contract and he left. St Kilda let him leave through their actions. Turn over coach after coach and who have they turned to now?

Simpson is a top shelf coach, his record shows that. If he wasn't WCE coach he'd be one of the first to be targeted right now. He was the obvious choice for me. It's one of the strongest decisions a club has made in the history of the game. An almost unprecedented call given how sustained the death riding of the season was this year.

Well done Eagles.

F*ck the SHEEP.

Great governance? a week or so ago they were all ducking and diving.Not one of them had the balls ( sorry ladies) to go public and back Simmo. Then a good result,public backing by a few players and SOME supporters and out comes a seemingly popular decision.
Please note this is a comment about the board not Simmo.I think they dithered,caused a great deal of uncertainty and made a popularist decision.
Its done,there’s no going back,Go Simmo!!!

 

[Deepthroat]

Great governance? a week or so ago they were all ducking and diving.Not one of them had the balls ( sorry ladies) to go public and back Simmo. Then a good result,public backing by a few players and SOME supporters and out comes a seemingly popular decision.
Please note this is a comment about the board not Simmo.I think they dithered,caused a great deal of uncertainty and made a popularist decision.
Its done,there’s no going back,Go Simmo!!!

Ducking and diving? Because of unsubstantiated gossip peddled by the click lovers in the media?

They were going about their business. Having meetings, strategising.

THEN, they went public as a UNITED team to back Simmo. A backing that aligned closely with every over communication they presented through the year.

A poorly governed club would allow individuals to speak out one by one.

There was no back peddling. No bowing to populism.

Show me where they communicated anything all year other than they were backing Simmo.

 

[eaglesnutcase]

Ducking and diving? Because of unsubstantiated gossip peddled by the click lovers in the media?

They were going about their business. Having meetings, strategising.

THEN, they went public as a UNITED team to back Simmo. A backing that aligned closely with every over communication they presented through the year.

A poorly governed club would allow individuals to speak out one by one.

There was no back peddling. No bowing to populism.

Show me where they communicated anything all year other than they were backing Simmo.

Wow you are committed to the cause.Got a friend on the board? Simmo certainly looked content.I go by the silence is deafening!

 

[Deepthroat]

Wow you are committed to the cause.Got a friend on the board? Simmo certainly looked content.I go by the silence is deafening!

Show me where they communicated anything all year other than they were backing Simmo.

You can't.

 

[VicBased]

Show me where they communicated anything all year other than they were backing Simmo.

You can't.

Probably frantically going through all the communications for the last year as we speak.