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Questions have been asked of West Coast‘s decision to stick with senior coach Adam Simpson for next season after the 2018 premiership winner was endorsed by the club’s board despite a horror season.
Simpson’s Eagles finished the home and away season on the bottom of the ladder after winning just three games and ending the year with a paltry percentage of just 53.
The Eagles revealed that the club’s board had “unanimously agreed” Simpson would remain at the helm on Monday night.
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“No one knows our playing list better than Adam and he has already steered us through the first phase of the rebuild,” Eagles chairman Paul Fitzpatrick said in a club statement in part.
“We are confident he can take us forward and take us where we aspire to be
“Adam is central to our development plans to assist the club’s rise up the ladder.”
The Eagles statement did not sit well with Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes.
“I disagree with the statement that he’s ‘steered’ them through the first phase of the rebuild,” he told Nine’s Footy Classified.
“I would argue that the rebuild hasn’t even started yet. Even the club has said (they’re) going to get younger and it’ll get more difficult for (them).
“This is the decision they’ve made, for me it’s the wrong one – I can’t believe it (and) I’m shocked by it. No coach in the history of the game has survived numbers like these.
Eagles accused of not trying to win
“For Adam, now that they’ve made this decision, he’s got to come back with energy and he’s got to drive standards, they’re the two things that I’d be focusing on because those two areas have seriously been lacking for at least two seasons now.”
Veteran columnist Caroline Wilson said she was “amazed” the Eagles had backed Simpson in despite the two years he has left to run on his current deal.
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”It’s a huge surprise when you talk about the season,” she told Footy Classified.
“Obviously the payout was going to be huge, but West Coast is a very wealthy football club, they have tens of millions of dollars in their coffers. I just wonder whether they (the board) got a bit nervous.
“There will be a cleanout at footy club. There will be a lot of changes. Trevor Nisbett, the CEO, fully expects that he won’t get his last year and that there will be big changes made around the coach.”
