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West Coast Eagles coach Adam Simpson backs his ability despite horror 61-point loss to Hawthorn
By Mitchell Woodcock, The West Australian, July 1, 2024 7:00PM
Email: Mitchell Woodcock
Topics
- West Coast Eagles
- AFL
Under-siege West Coast coach Adam Simpson says he’s “always got belief” in his ability despite pressure mounting after a disastrous 61-point loss to Hawthorn. After years of injury turmoil, the Eagles put out their strongest side in recent memory to tackle the Hawks at Optus Stadium on Sunday afternoon but were uncompetitive in most areas in a 14.10 (94) to 4.9 (33) defeat. It has once again led to questions about the tenure of Simpson, who is contracted until the end of next season but has led West Coast to only eight wins in their past 64 games.
Simpson was backed by the board in late August amid speculation he would be sacked after claiming the wooden spoon in a three-win season that featured a woeful five losses by 100 points or more. TheNightly Get in front of tomorrow’s news for FREE Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
It’s believed his water-tight contract ensured he would stay given the incredibly big pay out and costly luxury tax the Eagles would have to cough up for exceeding the soft cap helped him retain the position. Asked on 7NEWS if he still had belief in his own ability, the 2018 premiership coach hit back with: “That’s not even a question to be honest. “I’ve always got belief in my ability. I’ve been around a while, so that hasn’t wavered at all. I just want to be a good leader.”
Simpson said he knew it was going to still be difficult in 2024, but conceded they “took a step backwards” against the Hawks. “This has been a pretty hard couple of years and look I knew this year was going to be challenging as well,” Simpson said. “This is what happens when you go through a build, in particular at the moment – we’ve got some really good, experienced premiership players in our side and we’ve got some really young players, so it feels a bit different than just your standard, really young group trying to grow together. “We’ve got this different list profile and while we’ve got our
