West Coast have lost their past eight games by a whopping average margin of 66 points – but the question remains who is to blame?
Eagles skipper Luke Shuey says it’s a “united” team despite winning just three of their past 36 games – sinking to almost Fitzroy levels before the club’s merger with Brisbane.
But as calls come for coach Adam Simpson’s head – at an estimated cost of $1.6 million should the club opt to terminate his deal, Fox Footy’s experts break down where it’s going wrong for the once powerful West Coast.
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THE TRADE BLUES
It’s no secret West Coast haven’t been big players at the trade table in recent years.
Since 2016, they’ve brought in only nine established players – with just four still on their list this season.
The likes of Nathan Vardy, Brendon Ah Chee, Tom Hickey and Zac Langdon have all been and gone.
The only big name still standing tall is Tim Kelly – who arrived in West Coast’s controversial call to “sell the farm” and cough up two first rounders and two seconds to Geelong for a player arguably their best this season.
But there’s been opportunities the Eagles have ignored over the years.
Andrew Gaff was reportedly offered a monster seven-year, $8 million deal from North Melbourne, while St Kilda were circling Jeremy McGovern before his big-money deal was signed at West Coast.
Kingy goes Gaff: Lead it, or leave it! | 01:32
Now, experts fear the Eagles are left with a host of players too far past their prime for trade value.
“McGovern will stay – he signed a two-year deal. (Elliot) Yeo, Gaff, (Jack) Darling – would anyone really be interested in them?” Jon Ralph questioned On the Couch.
“The perception out there right now is the Eagles are out of touch with modern list management.
“They never really got in the conversation with Luke Jackson. They had one underwhelming meeting with him. How perfect would he have been as the ruckman for this footy club?
“(Player manager) Colin Young has tried to push a lot of players to West Coast – they could have had Sam Powell-Pepper for a third rounder; Port Adelaide would have paid most of that contract … they kept rolling on.
“They don’t seem to have the will to be innovative.
“The old hard West Coast would have signed up McGovern on a two-year deal and at the end of the season said ‘who wants him?’ Which club in the premiership window (who) needs an intercept defender is going to give us pick 20 – even though he’s 32, 33.
“That’s not the way they do it now.”
The Eagles had Bombers utility Nic Martin training at their club and overlooked him. They decided against snapping up now-Demon Jacob van Rooyen, and many experts believe the decision to trade for Kelly cost them Mitch Georgiades – all in the past few seasons.
Hawks utterly batter West Coast | 00:57
THE ‘MISTAKE’ WEST COAST MADE AND WHERE TO NOW
Eagles chairman Paul Fitzpatrick sat down for a one-on-one with 7NEWS this week, and conceded the club made one glaring error – not drafting Tim Kelly when he was at South Fremantle.
To get him back to WA, the Eagles coughed up a bounty two years later.
“There’s no doubt that in 2018-2019 we were really focused on trying to win another premiership and probably made list management decisions with that focus, and not so much a focus on what would happen in 2023 and 2024,” he conceded.
“We expected to perform well this year.
“I think in hindsight what we should have done is draft Tim (Kelly) in the first place … and we didn’t do it. And that was a mistake.
“I don’t think it was necessarily a mistake to trade draft picks to get Tim back.
“When we got Tim back, we were clearly in a premiership window.”
But with a host of injuries, Fitzpatrick conceded the club was planning “for the worst now, and not plan for the best”.
Suns hammer hapless Eagles in the West | 01:28
“The majority of the injuries are collision injuries – and that is just luck,” he said.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
And Fitzpatrick is adamant the issue isn’t Simpson’s coaching.
“I think Adam’s got a really bright future at the club,” he said.
“We have great belief in his coaching ability.
“I thought with a healthy list, we’d make the eight.”
WHERE DOES SIMMO STAND?
Eagles great Glen Jakovich this week said it was time for Simpson to be given his marching orders after the embarrassing loss to Hawthorn.
But there’s plenty of support out there for Simpson to carry on.
“I don’t know why Adam Simpson would want to do the years in this job, but he has pledged himself to that for the time being,” Gerard Whateley said on AFL 360.
“The problem with this fight is that they have not assembled the rebuild list – these are the results of a rebuild team.
West Coast Eagles press conference | 04:39
“They have not got to the rebuild stage – they don’t have a critical mass of high draft picks.
“Their circumstance is going to get worse from here – not better.”
Mark Robinson said Simpson was showing he’s “a fighter” as he battles a lengthy injury list with just 26 fit players to choose from against the Hawks.
“When the spirit is gone, when the spirit is absolutely out of the playing group – they’re running out saying ‘yeah we’re giving our best’, they are not!” he said on AFL 360.
“They think they are. But it’s not happening. Is that Adam Simpson’s fault?
“This game is so hard to play at that level – at any level let alone AFL level, and when you haven’t got the skill level and haven’t got the fitness and running around like a chook without a head, it does your head in week in-out.”
Jonathan Brown said the blame for the club’s woes laid solely off-field.
“I would argue the soft cap impedes West Coast the least out of anyone in the competition,” Brown said.
“They’ve got the resources to pay their tax – they could pay Adam Simpson out and just pay a 50% tax on top of that.
“Most clubs haven’t got the financial resources, but West Coast are the richest club in the competition. They could do it easy.
“The spotlight’s got to come on the CEO now.
“Trevor Nisbett has been there a long time and the list manager – they’ve overseen one of the greatest demises in the modern game.”
Richmond break drought against Eagles | 00:58
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said he didn’t feel Simpson was being given the best opportunity to succeed.
“You sit in a chair where you take a lot of flak and get lots of pats on the back (as head coach),” he said On the Couch.
“(Simpson) doesn’t have to stay there.
“Only he can really assess it on the connection with the playing group, with how much impact he has with list management decisions, conditioning etc – he nearly needs turn into an England Premier League gaffer to be able to do the job he‘s been asked to do.
“His conditions to be successful as coach aren’t there at the moment.”
The 116-point loss to Hawthorn – who were sitting last on the AFL ladder – was described by Ben Dixon as “humiliating”.
“Adam Simpson is absolutely determined to stay the course – to try and get to the bottom of this rebuild and come back up again even though it will be deep and dark and long,” Ralph said.
“If the club were to sack him, they would potentially have to pay him out as much as $1.6 million given his contract is through to 2025.
Shuey backs Simpson despite form | 00:53
“They made a $3m profit. It’s a 200% tax for anything over $500,000 so you pay him out $1.6m, you pay $3m in tax.
“If he coaches for two more years, West Coast could get worse.”
West Coast are currently sitting last on the AFL ladder, and remain the only team with just one win this season.
Coach Adam Simpson is reportedly set to take a three-month break away from the club come the season’s end, given the mental toll of the past two years.
