Analysis Where does Simpson rank amongst WCE Premiership coaches?

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Simmo’s Uncovered interview is on now. Interesting points below:

First key point - coaches polo looks terrific.

On the flag: Special time in WA. It’s a couple of months of enjoyment and pride, but the season moves quickly and you’re onto the next phase of the season.

Built a house throughout the season, having something away from footy was crucial. Boy they banged on about this ******* house.

On his relationship with Justin Langer: Lives around the corner, built a good relationship. He spoke to the Eagles players heading into the ‘17 finals, before the Port game. Talked about spirit and mateship.

“Perhaps that was the last thing we needed to get right.” That’s what got the team over the line, then that carried into 2018. Being a relatively new coach, always learning and trying to get new information from others.

Family: Very settled in WA. His family don’t seem too phased by footy by the sounds of it, they’re happy here.

Personal life, with contracts, you can’t plan beyond three to four years in advance, which can be difficult.
 
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Simmo’s Uncovered interview is on now. Interesting points below:

First key point - coaches polo looks terrific.

On the flag: Special time in WA. It’s a couple of months of enjoyment and pride, but the season moves quickly and you’re onto the next phase of the season.

Built a house throughout the season, having something away from footy was crucial. Boy they banged on about this ******* house.

Better coach than business man.

On his relationship with Justin Langer: Lives around the corner, built a good relationship. He spoke to the Eagles players heading into the ‘17 finals, before the Port game. Talked about spirit and mateship. Perhaps that was the last thing the club needed to get right. That’s what got the team over the line, then that carried into 2018.

Being a relatively new coach, always learning and trying to get new information from others. Wants to tap in to Trevor Gleeson from the Wildcats.

Contrast this with

“I have no doubt I’m coaching and managing better than I ever have and feel as energised and as determined as I have ever been in coaching,” Lyon said. “I’ve never really doubted myself and am very confident in my knowledge and capabilities to be able to bring this group through.
 

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DanWCE

Brownlow Medallist
Apr 2, 2015
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41,513
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West Coast
Simmo’s Uncovered interview is on now. Interesting points below:

First key point - coaches polo looks terrific.

On the flag: Special time in WA. It’s a couple of months of enjoyment and pride, but the season moves quickly and you’re onto the next phase of the season.

Built a house throughout the season, having something away from footy was crucial. Boy they banged on about this ******* house.

On his relationship with Justin Langer: Lives around the corner, built a good relationship. He spoke to the Eagles players heading into the ‘17 finals, before the Port game. Talked about spirit and mateship.

“Perhaps that was the last thing we needed to get right.” That’s what got the team over the line, then that carried into 2018. Being a relatively new coach, always learning and trying to get new information from others.

Family: Very settled in WA. His family don’t seem too phased by footy by the sounds of it, they’re happy here.

Personal life, with contracts, you can’t plan beyond three to four years in advance, which can be difficult.

Most enjoys about coaching: Team environment and having success as a club. “I didn’t understand how important that was until we went all the way”. Players have handled it really well. The pride of seeing players grow, you see the 17 year old grow, have kids, have success in different phases of their lives.

The style of coaching now wouldn’t have worked in the 90s. There’s more clarity about what a player needs. You can’t treat everyone evenly but you have to treat them fairly. Used that to lead into...

Liam Ryan: Had a pre-season army style camp - resilience, sleep deprivation, log carrying etc.

“It got really hard. It was too hard for him, but that’s ok. We went to a point, we stopped, he trained the next day. It got a bit of media hype in WA. That wouldn’t have happened in our time (talking to David King), it would have been ‘bad luck, we’re going to break you’. We’re just a little bit more aware of the player, their thoughts. The club is more of a sanctuary now, there’s so much pressure with what they’ve got to deal with off-field. Mental health is massive. To be aware of that but not act on it? You can’t do that.”

So good they air it at 3pm then don't follow it up with a replay at night...

Have you caught any advertisements about the coaches being mic'd up on GF day? Supposedly there will be footage of that but I'm not sure when or if it's part of We're Flying High next Wednesday. I'm sure they said it would be after the Season Launch but I can see AFL360 follows it.
 
So good they air it at 3pm then don't follow it up with a replay at night...

Have you caught any advertisements about the coaches being mic'd up on GF day? Supposedly there will be footage of that but I'm not sure when or if it's part of We're Flying High next Wednesday. I'm sure they said it would be after the Season Launch but I can see AFL360 follows it.

From what I can gather it’s during the season launch. Previous Uncovered interviews have gone up on the club websites, so should be able to catch this again.

If I can find footage, I’ll try to upload the mic’d up doco.
 
Simmo’s Uncovered interview part one.


Most enjoys about coaching: Team dynamic and having success as a club. “I didn’t understand how important that was until we went all the way”. Players have handled it really well. The pride of seeing players grow, you see the 17 year old grow, have kids, have success in different phases of their lives.

The style of coaching now wouldn’t have worked in the 90s. There’s more clarity about what a player needs. You can’t treat everyone evenly but you have to treat them fairly. Used that to lead into...

Liam Ryan: Had a pre-season army style camp - resilience, sleep deprivation, log carrying etc.

“It got really hard. It was too hard for him, but that’s ok. We went to a point, we stopped, he trained the next day. It got a bit of media hype in WA. That wouldn’t have happened in our time (talking to David King), it would have been ‘bad luck, we’re going to break you’. We’re just a little bit more aware of the player, their thoughts. The club is more of a sanctuary now, there’s so much pressure with what they’ve got to deal with off-field. Mental health is massive. To be aware of that but not act on it? You can’t do that.”

Young coaching group: “It’s hard to get the guys who have coached for 10 years, if they’re not from WA, because their kids are at school wherever they’re from, and getting them over is a big challenge. Getting Sam Mitchell as a young father of three, it’s difficult to come from the east and change your life for a small tenured contract.” Likes working with young coaches, molding them and seeing them grow.

Dennis Pagan, Dean Laidley and Alastair Clarkson big influences. Only had two coaches as a player, then worked under Clarkson.

“Coming off a loss in ‘15. I thought about ‘98, we lost ‘98 then won ‘99, and I wondered what Dennis did differently in the pre-game, the build up on the day.” Grand final week is different for interstate team, but what’s not different is Grand Final day.

Pagan’s advice: “Calm your staff down, make sure everybody’s relaxed.”
 
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Oct 29, 2007
22,098
29,862
Perth Western Australia
AFL Club
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Simmo’s Uncovered interview is on now. Interesting points below:

First key point - coaches polo looks terrific.

On the flag: Special time in WA. It’s a couple of months of enjoyment and pride, but the season moves quickly and you’re onto the next phase of the season.

Built a house throughout the season, having something away from footy was crucial. Boy they banged on about this ******* house.

Better coach than business man.

On his relationship with Justin Langer: Lives around the corner, built a good relationship. He spoke to the Eagles players heading into the ‘17 finals, before the Port game. Talked about spirit and mateship. Perhaps that was the last thing the club needed to get right. That’s what got the team over the line, then that carried into 2018.

Being a relatively new coach, always learning and trying to get new information from others. Wants to tap in to Trevor Gleeson from the Wildcats.


For me since 2011 a majority of the squad have always had talent but we always lacked that killer instinct when the pressure was on.
For me that win over Port during the 2017 finals was the final piece to the puzzle and allowed the players to understand anything is possible if they just push that extra 10%. 2018 showed that against all odds with injuries to key players, the Gaff incident and the media backlash on how we handled Nic Nat returning home they just didn't give a stuff about any of the outside noise. Then when we came from behind again against Port away and Simmo had all the players/staff in the room sending a picture to Gaff it just showed how much Simmo cared for his players and how united he was able to get those players.

The next challenge is to back it up! as hard as it has been historically you can just feel they are more a chance then they have ever been.
 
Simmo’s Uncovered interview part two
On developing relationships with players: “My philosophy on it has changed as we’ve gone. You can’t be their mate.” Players want support, they want to be respected, they want a sanctuary and they want to know you care. You don’t have to be best friends with them, they just want honesty.

Assistant coaches do a lot of the work. Simmo doesn’t show vision to the players, that’s the assistant coaches’ job. “I try to keep things big picture.” The awareness of our players, the care, is really important.

Tries to make sure the players are getting the right care, especially senior players. “Are they getting enough time off with family? Every second week we had a new kid arrive.” Are they getting enough time off. Andrew Gaff has been training for five months - does he need a rest? Big picture.

Flew to Melbourne to visit Tom Cole’s father, with support staff, to support Cole in a tough offseason. Keeps in contact with player’s families. Keeping them in the loop, making sure they know what’s going on, player welfare is crucial.
 
Simmo’s Uncovered interview part three.

Now we’ve won a flag, how do you stay ahead of the league: “Trying to guess a little bit of that.” You can try to emulate successful sides (e.g Bulldogs did X well, maybe that’s the way the game is going) but when you try to make it work, it might not work for your group. “We went through that for a couple of years.”

When Simmo arrived, first things that were implemented was things that had been learned from Hawthorn, then you see Bulldogs and Richmond and think is that where the league is going. “You’ve got to look at your list, what are you good at, can you make that your own?”

Defence can catch up to attack as the season goes on. Scoring goes down after six or seven weeks, then you get more settled as a club.

Role driven throughout the year - “rather than re-strategising every week, we had specific roles and stuck to that the whole year.”

Media scrutiny: “Taking over from someone like Woosha, I probably didn’t have the maturity to understand that. Maybe the pressure was there and I didn’t see it or feel it. Maybe they kept the pressure from me.”

Halfway through ‘17, pressure started. Doesn’t take a lot to snowball. “That’s just part of the job. The club is really good at keeping things stable, Trevor Nisbett is elite in that area.” Clearly doesn’t give a * about media scrutiny of his job, understands it comes with the territory.

“When it comes to our players, I’ve become very sensitive. I think that is part of your growth as a coach, you become very protective of your players. If I snap at anything it’s when my players are criticised. I really don’t like it, and I do remember it.”

Went into depth about how he likes to see players succeed personally, and basically just wants his players to be happy. Doesn’t like criticism from people who don’t see how hard they work.
 
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Simmo Uncovered interview part four.
Where to now? “Where we are as a club is really important to understand; are we on the way up, are we stabilised, are we on the way down? You need to read the cues of where you are as a club.”

“At this time of the year, for every club, it’s difficult for a coach to know how you’re going. You’re not playing against anyone, you think you’re going ok, you don’t really know until you start playing some games. It’s a bad time to ask. I’m always a cynic with where we’re at this time of year.”

Really confident, up front interview. Personal relationships are clearly the foundation of the successes we’ve enjoyed under Simmo. Absolutely rapt to have a young, forward thinking coach who gets the personal care element of modern sport.

Worth a watch, albeit no revolutionary takeaways from it, just makes a really good bloke seem like a really good bloke.
 
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Oct 6, 2011
32,374
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You define success by premierships. If he wins another flag, there is a good case in point for him overtaking Malthouse. If he won a 3rd premiership he would be streaks ahead of the other two. Malthouse had a much powerful 'state like squad' at his disposal and could muster only the 2 flags in his time here.
 
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Turboman1994

Club Legend
WCE Wings Guernsey
Jul 24, 2013
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He’s got a point about outside Critism of players we as fans especially in the social media age are too quick to fly the handle. We pay our memebership to keep guys like nizzy, the coaching staff and the experts to handle the players
 

southcoast

Premiership Player
Sep 25, 2006
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Jakovich's thoughts on Simmo, "He liked the approaches of captain Shannon Hurn and coach Adam Simpson. Simpson in particular had made the club a good place to be without losing his authority," he said.

“He seems very personable, he is on their level. He is not dictatorial but he knows where the line is without being too friendly. He has made it a place where people love to come to work. They know when to giggle and gag and they know when the job is on.”

Full article about going 'back to back' here
 

Coaster90

Debutant
Jul 15, 2018
122
200
AFL Club
West Coast
After last nights game, I'm absolutely amazed at how slick this team looks, the game plan is so potent, the skills fine and it seems we have some excitings bows to add in Petch and Allen.

Though the one thing I'm super impressed about is the ability to develop a premiership winning plan, and shut down anyone other team trying to implement it, which during the Hawks Dynasty was exactly what they were able to do.

Still Early days but Simmo has started the defence off strong with a monster performance at the Grand Final replay.
 
The team looks primed for back to back. Bookies and many pundits wrote us off heading into last night and in the end we controlled the game and barely got out of second gear to put them away. The boys knew exactly what to do, credit has to go to Simmo and the coaching staff for that.

Then we still have Naitanui, Rioli and Duggan on the sidelines...

Of course still only Round 3 but early signs are promising.
 

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