Adam Simpson at centre of potential West Coast exodus: 'Pay a price'

If the 2023 AFL season keeps tracking as it has all year, the West Coast Eagles will hold the ignominious title of the third worst record since 1950. Sitting at 1-17 so far with five matches still to come and a measly percentage of 48.9, the Eagles are on track to register a worse record than the GWS Giants in their debut season in the league - putting coach Adam Simpson firmly at risk of losing his job, Caroline Wilson has reported.

Wilson, on Monday night's Footy Classified, said that the Eagles board was considering a full-scale cleanout of senior staff and players amid a second straight losing season. The likes of Simpson, club CEO Trevor Nisbett, as well as a raft of senior players could potentially be moved on as a result.

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The Eagles' round 19 loss to Carlton, a 71-point rout, is believed to have been the final tipping point for the 2018 premiers. According to Wilson, Nisbett is more likely to be forced out ahead of Simpson, with the coach's lucrative contract and the financial consequences for bring it to an early end reportedly unpalatable.

The club's fitness boss, Warren Kofoed, has already announced he will be departing at the end of the season, as the Eagles come under serious criticism for a supposed decline in standards. Wilson said she also expected 'several' assistant coaches to be shown the door.

“The story all year has been that it‘ll be either the coach or the CEO, there has to be one big scalp, I’m now not sure Adam Simpson will survive,” Wilson told Channel 9. “I thought he might because of his huge contract and the fact that they’d have to pay him out for two years.

"Although they’re a very wealthy club, they seem unwilling to go over their soft cap in any radical way. I think the Carlton result almost made the minds of some board members believe that this has just got to change.

“Simpson must know now he’s in trouble. This is a board with a new chairman Paul Fitzpatrick who need to be seen to be making some tough decisions as well as needing to make tough decisions.”

Injuries have no doubt been a huge factor in West Coast's ongoing struggles, but the fact that they have regularly been beaten by such large margins has reportedly raised serious alarm bells internally. The absences of Luke Shuey, who has spent much of the season sidelined with a hamstring injury, and Nic Naitanui, who hasn't played a game in 2023 despite signing a new two-year deal last year, have been particularly damaging.

“The coach has to pay a price for that,” Wilson said. “Particularly if senior players have been allowed to lose fitness ... and in the view of senior club people now, lose the hunger, pretty much since 2018 and worse after Covid.”

West Coast hoping to avoid Adam Simpson 'PR nightmare'

Similarly, Fox Footy reporter Jon Ralph has said the club has been hoping to avoid a 'PR nightmare' by retaining Simpson, who signed a contract extension of his own which carries him through to the end of the 2025 season. His deal is reportedly worth nearly $1 million a season, which would result in any payout pushing the club over the AFL soft cap, costing the Eagles roughly $6 million overall.

“There was series of meetings across the weekend – on Friday, the board of course which includes (former Australian cricket coach) Justin Langer, were there (in Melbourne) for high level meetings,” Ralph told Fox Footy. “Any other club would probably move on Adam Simpson but they are resolute he’s their man.

“His contract stretches to 2025 – it’s airtight. They can’t afford to pay him out from a PR point of view and he doesn’t want to walk away.

"The deal is about a million bucks a year – just under. If they paid him under the AFL’s escalating footy department salary cap, they’d be paying $2m in salary and $4m in footy department tax (to sack him) – so it’s a $6m decision.”

However, former AFL great Garry Lyon says sacking Simpson would hardly result in the stated PR crisis, given the club's woeful record over the past two seasons in particular was enough of a disaster to justify doing so. Simpson memorably lead the Eagles to the 2018 premiership, a triumph that must seem like an eternity ago to Eagles diehards.

“(It was) a Carlton side that had some big outs and some injuries on the day and still (West Coast) had their pants pulled down,” he said. "You thought, Adam Simpson won’t survive this … that’s just footy experience telling you that the build up of pressure is going to explode.

“You’re telling me they won’t contemplate a pay out on the basis it would be a PR nightmare? What are they living right now every single week? And how long can the PR nightmare continue week to week?”

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