Adam Simpson: West Coast Eagle Jeremy McGovern ‘stoked’ to see coach retained as football world reacts to call

Veteran West Coast defender Jeremy McGovern says he’s “stoked” and not surprised that Adam Simpson has been backed in as coach for the final two years of his contract.

Simpson was on Monday night endorsed by the Eagles board to continue in the role despite mounting pressure on his job after overseeing just five wins in the past two seasons.

It came after the coach had in recent weeks garnered support from fans and players - including McGovern, who has played his entire 172-game career under Simpson.

“I wasn’t surprised. I’m more happy that Simmo’s hanging around,” McGovern said on TAB Radio.

“There is no doubt the pressure was obviously mounting not only on himself but on the club as a whole.

“They had to make a decision and I’m pretty stoked he’s hanging around.”

After weeks of intense scrutiny, tensions around Simpson’s role reached a crescendo after a humiliating 101-point thrashing at the hands of Fremantle in round 22.

However, a shock win over the Western Bulldogs and a groundswell of support from fans and senior players turned with the board unanimously backing the coach Monday night.

McGovern praised his coach for how he had handled himself under intense pressure.

“His demeanour or attitude did not change that much at all throughout the season or in these last few weeks, and that’s something he should be really proud of,” McGovern said.

“The last six weeks things were looking better for us and we started to play some more consistent footy.”

While McGovern said there were positive signs, he did not hide from what was a disastrous season in which the club claimed just their second wooden spoon.

“We’re extremely disappointed with the year,” he said. “We need to work through the rot in a lot of areas as individuals and the team, we’re not happy with the season at all.”

Former Eagles star Josh Kennedy said he had noticed the support turn for Simpson in the back half of the year and expects changes will be made around the coach.

“I suppose you look externally at the heat that comes from the media and fans and members and there was a little swing towards the back end of the year with petitions and the like,” he said on SEN.

“It’s great that he gets another chance at building this next generation of players coming through, there will be a fair few list changes I would say,”

“I think he just probably needs the right people around him, I think there will be more resources poured into player development and maybe some movement amongst the assistant coaches.”

It comes as West Coast Eagles captain and inaugural best-and-fairest winner Steve Malaxos said the decision to retain Simpson was “interesting” but agreed recent weeks had helped his cause.

“One of the things that occurred to me was he got a lengthy contract so it’s pretty clear the board had a strong and positive opinion of his coaching back in 2021,” he said speaking on SportFM.

“I guess that faith has come through and taking into account injuries this year.

“I think the last four to five weeks really helped him. There was an upward trend, the Dockers game notwithstanding.”

Malaxos said he wasn’t sure if the potential pay-out cost of Simpson’s contract, who was locked in until 2025, played a significant part in the decision.

“The Eagles have the finances if they really need to pay out the deal - that’s only part of it, of course, with the soft cap and whatnot,” he said.

“I’m not sure how much that would’ve played into it but it is a factor.”

Malaxos said the pressure would be on Simpson to stem the bleeding of hefty losses while bringing in young talent to take the group forward.

“They would obviously like to see more wins, but the thing that stood out this year was the thrashings they’ve got to stop,” he said.

“It will still be a tough year but they have to manage the extent of the losses.

“But the key thing is the development of the young players and draft choices to build the club that will be his most important job.”