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| Adam Simpson | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Simpson with West Coast in April 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Adam Simpson | ||
| Nickname | Simmo[1] | ||
| Born | (1976-02-16)16 February 1976 (age 49) | ||
| Original team | Eltham(DVFL)/Northern Knights (TAC Cup) | ||
| Draft | No. 14,1993 national draft | ||
| Height | 185 cm (6 ft 1 in)[2] | ||
| Weight | 86 kg (190 lb)[2] | ||
| Positions | Midfielder, defender | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1995–2009 | North Melbourne | 306 (83) | |
| International team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| 2002–2003 | Australia | 4 (0) | |
| Coaching career3 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 2014–2024 | West Coast | 242 (122–119–1) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2009. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of round 17, 2024. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
Club
Coaching | |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Adam Simpson (born 16 February 1976) is a formerAustralian rules footballer and coach. A left-footed midfielder, his playing career forNorth Melbourne spanned from 1995 to 2009, where he played 306 games. He coachedWest Coast from 2014 until parting ways during the2024 season, having led them to the2018 premiership.
FromMelbourne, Simpson played junior football forEltham and theNorthern Knights before being recruited to North Melbourne at the1993 National Draft. He made his debut during the1995 season, and won a premiership the following year, during which he was also nominated for theAFL Rising Star award. Another premiership followedin 1999, andin 2002, Simpson was named in theAll-Australian team and also won North Melbourne's best and fairest award, theSyd Barker Medal. He was appointed club captainin 2004, and held the position until stepping down at the end of the2008 season, with his span including a preliminary finalin 2007. Simpson played his 300th game in 2009, the third North Melbourne player to do so, and finished his career towards the end of the season. He was appointed coach of West Coast in October 2013, replacingJohn Worsfold.
Simpson grew up in the north-eastern suburbs ofMelbourne where he played junior football forEltham in the suburbanDiamond Valley Football League. He also played under-18 football forNorthern Knights. Simpson also had a stint in the East Gippsland town of Sale where he was part of an under 15's premiership under coach Vince Moro.
As a child, Simpson supported theCarlton Football Club, the club whom he would play his final AFL game against in 2009.[3]
He attended school atSt Helena Secondary College.
Simpson was recruited by North Melbourne at the1993 National Draft. He made his senior debut for the club against theEagles in round 18 atPrinces Park during the1995 season. The following season, he played for North Melbourne in the1996 AFL Grand Final win overSydney. Earlier in the season, he was nominated for theRising Star award. Simpson also played a key midfield role for North Melbourne when the team won the1999 Grand Final. In 2002, he won the club best and fairest award (Syd Barker Medal) and he was named in theAll-Australian team.[4][5]
Simpson was appointed club captain in 2004, and he led theKangaroos into the finals the following year.[4][5]
In 2005, the skipper narrowly missed recording a fifth consecutive top-three finish in the club best and fairest. He finished 4th, one vote behind 3rd and 2 votes shy of second. That year he missed two games with a punctured lung, but he still tallied over 400 disposals for the season with his industrious playmaking style.[4][5]
Round 5, 2007, he racked up a career equalling high 41 disposals, including a goal, in theRoos 16 point win againstGeelong atKardinia Park. Weeks later, he played his 250th game againstCarlton in a home game atCarrara on theGold Coast. North Melbourne won the game 22-13 (147) to 20-10 (130). Simpson had 20 disposals. At the end of the game, his teammates celebrated his 250 milestone by chairlifting him from the field.[4][5]
On 5 November 2008, Adam Simpson announced he was stepping down as captain but he would continue playing in 2009.Brent Harvey became the new captain.[4][5]
In April 2009. Simpson,Daniel Pratt and five other North Melbourne players admitted to producing aYouTube video entitled "The Adventures of Little Boris". The video was of a rubber chicken named Boris performing sexual acts on the carcass of a chicken. Simpson and Pratt were fined $5000 each by North Melbourne.[6]
Simpson retired during the2009 season. With North Melbourne out of finals contention, Simpson announced his retirement on 27 July 2009. He played the last of his 306 games on Friday night againstCarlton in round 18 atDocklands on 31 July[7] He ended his playing career after 15 seasons in the same round he made his debut. Simpson played every game during the North Melbourne 1996 and 1999 premiership seasons, and during his career he missed seven games as a regular player. He was the third player to notch 300 games for North Melbourne.[4][5]
Simpson played for North Melbourne Football Club from 1995 until 2009 for a total of 306 games and kicked 83 goals.[4][5] Simpson was also a member of North Melbourne Premiership teams in1996 and1999.[8]
After his retirement from his playing career at the end of the 2009 season, Simpson began his coaching career as an assistant coach under senior coachAlastair Clarkson atHawthorn in the2010 AFL season,[9] and he was the midfield & forward coach for theHawks when the club won the premiership in the2013 AFL Grand Final.[10]
In October 2013, theWest Coast Eagles appointed Simpson as senior coach for the2014 season. He replacedJohn Worsfold who stood down after a disappointing 2013 season.[11][12][13] Simpson was selected ahead of applicantsScott Burns,Leigh Tudor andPeter Sumich.[14][15][16] In his first year as senior coach, the Eagles under Simpson finished 9th at the end of the2014 AFL season, just missing out of the finals. The following year in the2015 AFL season, Simpson and the Eagles surprised many commentators by their performance when the club finished 2nd at the end home & away rounds. Simpson then coached the West Coast Eagles to the2015 AFL Grand Final, which they fell short and lost toHawthorn by a margin of 46 points with the final score Hawthorn 16.11 (107) to West Coast Eagles8.13 (61).[17][18]
In the following two seasons the Eagles made the finals, bowing out in the elimination final and the semi-final in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
In Round 2, 2018 againstWestern Bulldogs atDocklands Stadium, West Coast Eagles forwards coachJaymie Graham served as caretaker coach of the team after Simpson was forced to return to Perth due to a family health drama.
In the2018 AFL season, Simpson coached the West Coast Eagles to apremiership in the2018 AFL Grand Final, when West Coast Eagles defeatedCollingwood by a margin of five points, with the final score West Coast Eagles 11.13 (79) to Collingwood 11.8 (74).[19]
After three consecutive years without making the finals, including one 'horror' season in 2023, where West Coast Eagles finished last on the ladder, on July 9th, 2024, in the middle of the 2024 season, after Round 17, 2024, with no improvement in on-field performance with the Eagles sitting at sixteenth (third-last) on the ladder, Simpson stood down as senior coach of the West Coast Eagles in a mutual agreement with the club that Simpson's 11-year tenure as senior coach would come to an end, effective immediately.[20][21][22] Simpson was replaced by assistant coachJarrad Schofield as caretaker senior coach for the remainder of the 2024 season.[23]
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | |||||
| 1995 | North Melbourne | 37 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 5.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0 |
| 1996 | North Melbourne | 37 | 25 | 16 | 8 | 164 | 94 | 258 | 46 | 35 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 6.6 | 3.8 | 10.3 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 0 |
| 1997 | North Melbourne | 37 | 19 | 5 | 7 | 153 | 82 | 235 | 46 | 23 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 8.1 | 4.3 | 12.4 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 0 |
| 1998 | North Melbourne | 37 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 175 | 112 | 287 | 46 | 45 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 9.2 | 5.9 | 15.1 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 0 |
| 1999 | Kangaroos | 7 | 25 | 5 | 9 | 409 | 136 | 545 | 113 | 54 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 16.4 | 5.4 | 21.8 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 7 |
| 2000 | Kangaroos | 7 | 25 | 5 | 6 | 376 | 116 | 492 | 87 | 83 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 15.0 | 4.6 | 19.7 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 0 |
| 2001 | Kangaroos | 7 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 309 | 146 | 455 | 88 | 60 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 14.7 | 7.0 | 21.7 | 4.2 | 2.9 | 2 |
| 2002 | Kangaroos | 7 | 23 | 7 | 10 | 403 | 162 | 565 | 105 | 72 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 17.5 | 7.0 | 24.6 | 4.6 | 3.1 | 7 |
| 2003 | Kangaroos | 7 | 21 | 11 | 6 | 327 | 205 | 532 | 126 | 45 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 15.6 | 9.8 | 25.3 | 6.0 | 2.1 | 9 |
| 2004 | Kangaroos | 7 | 22 | 4 | 8 | 317 | 227 | 544 | 118 | 73 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 14.4 | 10.3 | 24.7 | 5.4 | 3.3 | 10 |
| 2005 | Kangaroos | 7 | 21 | 3 | 1 | 230 | 183 | 413 | 84 | 63 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 11.0 | 8.7 | 19.7 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 7 |
| 2006 | Kangaroos | 7 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 226 | 210 | 436 | 96 | 58 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 11.9 | 11.1 | 22.9 | 5.1 | 3.1 | 3 |
| 2007 | Kangaroos | 7 | 25 | 4 | 4 | 327 | 283 | 610 | 104 | 110 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 13.1 | 11.3 | 24.4 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 13 |
| 2008 | North Melbourne | 7 | 21 | 4 | 5 | 238 | 267 | 505 | 77 | 77 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 11.3 | 12.7 | 24.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 7 |
| 2009 | North Melbourne | 7 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 199 | 243 | 442 | 95 | 76 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 11.1 | 13.5 | 24.6 | 5.3 | 4.2 | 7 |
| Career | 306 | 83 | 80 | 3858 | 2472 | 6330 | 1232 | 875 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 12.6 | 8.1 | 20.7 | 4.0 | 2.9 | 72 | ||
| Team | Year | Regular season | Finals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| WCE | 2014 | 11 | 11 | 0 | .500 | 9th (out of 18) | — | — | — | — |
| WCE | 2015 | 16 | 5 | 1 | .750 | 2nd (out of 18) | 2 | 1 | .667 | Lost2015 AFL Grand Final |
| WCE | 2016 | 16 | 6 | 0 | .727 | 6th (out of 18) | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost Elimination Final |
| WCE | 2017 | 12 | 10 | 0 | .545 | 8th (out of 18) | 1 | 1 | .500 | Lost Semi Final |
| WCE | 2018 | 15 | 6 | 0 | .714 | 2nd (out of 18) | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | Won2018 AFL Grand Final |
| WCE | 2019 | 15 | 7 | 0 | .682 | 5th (out of 18) | 1 | 1 | .500 | Lost Semi Final |
| WCE | 2020[a] | 12 | 5 | 0 | .706 | 5th (out of 18) | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost Elimination Final |
| WCE | 2021 | 10 | 12 | 0 | .455 | 9th (out of 18) | — | — | — | — |
| WCE | 2022 | 2 | 20 | 0 | .091 | 17th (out of 18) | — | — | — | — |
| WCE | 2023 | 3 | 20 | 0 | .130 | 18th (out of 18) | — | — | — | — |
| WCE | 2024 | 3 | 13 | 0 | .186 | 16th (out of 18) | — | — | — | Resigned after round 18. |
| Total | 123 | 119 | 1 | .573 | 7 | 5 | .583 | |||
Team
Individual
Team
Individual
Simpson married his high-school sweetheart, whom he met in Year 11, and he has four children.[24]
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Coach:Lyon | ||