West Coast coach Adam Simpson says the emphatic response to last week’s humiliating derby loss against the Bulldogs should not change the board’s decision on whether he stays in the role.
Simpson said he was “really proud” of his players after a stunning seven-point win over the finals contenders at Marvel Stadium, and was pleased the Eagles’ move off the bottom of the ladder had “put to bed” accusations of tanking following the one-point Round 21 loss to Essendon.
“Last week was pretty heavy, but I was more disappointed about the criticism three weeks ago, about the tanking stuff – that probably cut me a bit deeper, so (we) put that to bed,” Simpson said.
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“At the time, I was thinking, ‘really, is that what you think we do?’
“It was a flippant comment by a few people about the Essendon game, that strategically we tried to manipulate the game so we’d lose … that’s just not on, and it’s hard to respond, because you don’t want to, but I have now – so bad luck.”
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Simpson said he was unhappy with how West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett and the club’s board had been portrayed externally, and said he did not think the win should save his position if they were leaning towards parting ways with the premiership coach.
“Whatever happens with me, I suspect it shouldn’t change … the decision for me is not based on today or last week, it’s based on how they see it going forward, and whatever they decide, they decide,” he said.
Simpson said he felt for Harley Reid after the likely No. 1 pick, who now looks destined to join North Melbourne, made headlines in Perth this week after he “liked” an Instagram post of a Footy Classified discussion on the Eagles coach’s future.
“I feel for Harley … my son liked the same thing, so maybe he should be on the back page … that’s just white noise, I’m not worried about that stuff,” he said.
He said West Coast’s senior players were behind the significant lift in performance after the Dockers loss, with Jamie Cripps booting three final quarter goals to finish with a bag of five after flying to Melbourne later than the rest of his teammates following the birth of his second child.
“Another baby boy, he flew over yesterday … I think our leaders have been carrying a lot, and Crippa, getting him back in good form – I don’t think he did a lot in the first half, but to end up with five … when our best players play well, we normally go alright,” Simpson said.
“The bittersweet of today is (Elliot) Yeo has done a small hamstring – that’s on me, I probably left him on the ball too long, so should have kept him back,” Simpson said.
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“He’s pretty happy for the win, and McGovern is pretty sore too … it was his foot, and I think he’s carrying a knee, and then he hurt his arm. I’m surprised he played out the whole game … actually, I’m not surprised.”
Simpson said the Eagles were hopeful of regaining retiring premiership stars Shannon Hurn and Luke Shuey for a farewell game against Adelaide on Saturday night.
“We’re trying to get them to the line, but we don’t want them to get to the line and then they break in the first quarter either,” Simpson said.
“They’ve been doing a block of training the last 10 days, hopefully (they) ticked off the last thing today and then can have a normal week – as soon as we know, we’ll tell everyone.”
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