AnalysisSportWho are the men most likely to coach the West Coast Eagles in the 2025 AFL season?
By Tom Wildie and Greig JohnstonIn the end, it was inevitable.
Adam Simpson had to go as coach of West Coast.
Some improved performances late last year, and three wins this season after the arrival of young draftee Harley Reid, had Eagles supporters thinking they had turned a corner.
But since the club's bye they have looked shot.
Injury and illness certainly played their part in 2022 and 2023, but it was the nature of the losses and the length of the club's malaise that shifted the dial towards a new start.
Time for change
Simpson's recent record — eight wins in the past three seasons — would have seen him gone much earlier at any other AFL club.
That premiership in 2018 earned him a generous credit limit.
But that limit has been reached and breached, and it is remarkable he survived as long as he did.
West Coast had to stop looking backwards and decide if Simpson was the right coach to deliver improvement going forward.
They decided he wasn't.
Ultimately, winning is the metric by which success is judged.
Simpson had remained steadfast in his belief in himself, but over the past few weeks he has been fielding more and more questions about his future.
Whoever replaces the Eagles premiership coach inherits a list in transition, and will have to navigate their way through a rebuild under the scrutiny of a football-mad state.
The question is: who does West Coast pick to steer the ship?
The men most likely
There are several highly rated assistants at clubs around the country, including former Eagle and 2016 VFL premiership coach Ashley Hansen.
Hansen was a West Coast premiership player in 2006 and has most recently been serving under Michael Voss at Carlton, helping turn the Blues into a serious contender after decades in the wilderness.
Loading...Prior to joining Carlton in 2022, Hansen spent nine years at the Western Bulldogs, working with Luke Beveridge during the club's AFL/VFL flag double in 2016.
One of Hansen's premiership teammates in 2006, Dean Cox, is also well and truly in the mix and would have to be the fan favourite to get the job.
One of the greatest ruckmen of all time, Cox played 290 games in the blue and gold, earning All-Australian honours six times.
Following his retirement as a player he joined the Eagles coaching staff, spending three seasons as ruck coach before heading to Sydney and working with John Longmire.
Both Hansen and Cox have completed first-rate apprenticeships, and they have history with West Coast.
Prior experience
Jaymie Graham is another with West Coast ties who is linked with the job.
In fact, at the moment he is the only candidate in the field to have done the job before, stepping in to coach West Coast for one match back in 2018 when a family illness kept Simpson out.
Graham is currently plying his trade down the road at Fremantle as the Dockers forward line coach, helping Fremantle to third spot on the AFL ladder and, according to some experts, genuine premiership contention.
Already in the Eagles nest is former Port Adelaide premiership player Jarrad Schofield, who has proven WAFL coaching experience after leading Subiaco to three premierships.
There is also Matthew Knights, who coached Essendon before being sacked in 2010, and is West Coast's forwards coach.
On Tuesday evening the Eagles confirmed Schofield would be their interim coach until the end of the season.
Whether Schofield or Knights are interested in the job remains to be seen.
But an enormous task awaits the incoming coach, whoever it turns out to be.
Simpson himself was an assistant before being picked to replace John Worsfold, and he had the Eagles in a grand final within two seasons.
But the list he inherited was far better than the one he leaves behind.
And the amount of raw, young talent the Eagles have will mean the next appointment Don Pyke and the club's board make needs to be absolutely spot on.