West Coast figure calls for 'full clean-out' amid 'putrid' Eagles truth
West Coast's former Coleman Medallist has let rip after the AFL club's darkest day.
Former West Coast star Scott Cummings has pointed the finger squarely at the embattled club's senior players during a withering assessment of the record-breaking 171-point hiding by Sydney on Saturday night. The loss was the heaviest in the club's AFL history and has prompted fierce backlash against under-fire coach Adam Simpson.
Kane Cornes said Simpson "won't survive" after Saturday night's debacle, described by many as the darkest day in the club's history. Disgruntled fans have also called for the coach's sacking after a display he even labelled "embarrassing" against the Swans.
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Cummings - who won the Coleman Medal with West Coast in 1999 - agreed that the Eagles need to make drastic changes but said punting the coach was not the answer. The former Eagle bemoaned the club's injury predicament and current playing roster, but suggested the biggest problem was the attitude of many of the club's senior players.
“We understand where their list is at, we understand where their injuries are at and it’s going to be very hard for any club in Australia, let alone any sporting club, to lose that many players and be competitive. But there are some things are just non-negotiables - and effort is the No. 1 thing,” Cummings told SEN WA Breakfast.
“What I saw on the weekend was just putrid, from senior players who have been there a long, long time, who keep saying how much they love the club. Well at the moment I’m seeing players play for cash, not for their club. They’re playing for contracts.
“There’s a handful of players that if they decide to go on at the end of the year, they are playing for money, because there is no way in the world you can watch what we saw on Saturday and say that they care or have any pride in their jumper at the moment. For that reason alone, to me, says there needs to be change.”
Senior West Coast players slammed
Amid calls for the coach's head, West Coast chairman Paul Fitzpatrick said the board had “faith that Adam can take this team forward”. Cummings echoed that sentiment and said Simpson had been “horribly let down by too many senior players and list management”, arguing that the coach had to stay in order for the club to achieve some form of "stability".
“Unfortunately for Adam Simpson right now, he can’t change any players — and they play like they know they can’t be dropped, because he’s got nobody to replace them with,” he added. “I generally loathe seeing a coach get removed halfway through a season or late (in a season), or supporters screaming out ‘we want heads’ and ‘heads must roll’. Stability is probably the No. 1 thing.
“But the West Coast Eagles, stability is out the window. They need a full clean-out, mate. They need new voices, they need new faces and they need players that give a toss because there’s too many there right now – and I’m not talking about young blokes, I’m only talking senior players – that just don’t care and it shows."
Cornes was also scathing of West Coast's senior players but says a result like the Swans disaster ultimately falls on the coach. “It’s alarming. I’ve said from about Round 3 this year that you can’t survive – and the coach won’t survive – a record like this and performances like this will put a full stop to that,” he said. “Whether that’s this week or in the coming weeks, unfortunately for Adam Simpson, his time is coming to an end.
“They need to change things up because what we are seeing on the field, regardless of who is available – and they’ll keep referencing that and he did that again – the effort levels, they are not trying. And it’s their senior players who aren’t trying.”
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