By Jake Niall
West Coast have agreed to part ways with coach Adam Simpson after 11 years, with assistant coach and ex-Eagle Jarrad Schofield taking over as interim coach for at least the last six games of this season.
But Simpson is yet to decide whether he will coach the Eagles this weekend against the Brisbane Lions, the club having offered to let him have a farewell game.
As reported by this masthead on Monday, 2006 premiership players Dean Cox and Ash Hansen, now senior assistants at Sydney and Carlton respectively, are viewed as potential senior coaches and are certain to be on the list of candidates for the West Coast senior coaching job. Fremantle’s Jaymie Graham is another seasoned assistant with a West Coast pedigree who is likely to be canvassed.
Cox has a strong relationship with Eagles chief executive Don Pyke, the pair having coached together at both West Coast and the Swans, while Hansen is highly regarded by the Eagles, as is Graham, an assistant under Simpson and now at the Dockers.
But, as the first club in the marketplace for a new coach, West Coast can cast the net much wider if they choose.
“It was time,” Pyke said at a media conference on Tuesday, alongside Simpson and club chair Paul Fitzpatrick. “To Adam’s great credit, he always puts the club first and he accepted that was going to be the position.
“This is a taxing job. Adam has done it for 11 years really, really well and given his all. Our club has changed, our program has changed and we recognise his contribution to the club.”
He said the club would like Simpson to coach one last time this weekend against the Lions, but Simpson said he would get through the initial announcement before making a decision.
On Tuesday evening, Simpson had not yet decided on whether he would coach this weekend, according to the club.
Schofield, also a Port Adelaide premiership player in 2004, was a successful coach of Subiaco in the WAFL, coaching the side to flags in 2014, 2015 and 2018. He is the Eagles’ midfield coach.
Simpson’s exit – described by both Pyke and the coach as a mutual decision reached late on Monday – had long been in the wind after the 2018 premiership coach and ex-North Melbourne skipper survived a board meeting in August last year when the board considered removing him with two years to run on his long-term contract.
At a media conference marked by goodwill from club and exiting coach, a philosophical Simpson said the last three years of his tenure had been difficult. He indicated that a decision had been made ahead of the club’s board meeting on Tuesday.
“It’s the right call,” he said of his departure.
“I’ve still got passion for the game, but I probably need a break, to be honest,” he said. “A little bit of relief, as well as sadness, is probably what I feel at the moment. And optimism for our playing group.”
Pyke confirmed that Simpson’s contract would be honoured, which means the club will pay the outgoing coach close to $1 million for his 2025 contract. The Eagles can split that payment over multiple seasons, as Hawthorn did with Alastair Clarkson after paying him out of his 2022 deal, to ease potential issues for exceeding the soft cap on football spending.
Simpson, one of six senior coaches in West Coast’s 37-year history and one of only three to lead the club to premiership glory, coached the Eagles to a flag in 2018, adding his name to a short list of the club’s premiership coaches – Mick Malthouse (1992, 1994) and John Worsfold (2006).
He has been at the helm since 2014 and also coached the Eagles to a grand final appearance in 2015.
Since 2022, the Eagles have won eight of 61 games and will finish bottom two or three for the third time.
While West Coast’s improved performances this year – especially the wins over Fremantle and Melbourne – gave Simpson some hope, the team’s form slumped again in the past several weeks, leading to Tuesday’s decision by the hierarchy.
Simpson had known for some time that the odds were against him hanging onto his position, having survived a board review and debate over whether he should remain coach at the end of last year, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Former Australian cricket coach Justin Langer and Fitzpatrick had been his strongest supporters to remain when that was debated last year.
Fitzpatrick, the club chairman, said the board had taken a different position to 12 months earlier – when it ultimately retained the coach – because “last year was a completely different set of circumstances”.
Simpson had dealt with COVID-19 and injury and not had the chance “to really coach the team” in West Coast’s dismal 2022 and 2023 campaigns.
Simpson said he did not know his next step, but that he needed a break. He said he loved Perth, and the game of football.
Pyke said the process of finding a new senior coach would start immediately, with a list of candidates drawn up. The former Adelaide coach ruled himself out as an option.
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