Simpson's time has come: Sumich

The Eagles’ horror season reached yet another new nadir on Saturday night, suffering their greatest-ever defeat in a Western Derby as Fremantle ran out winners by 101 points.

West Coast legend Peter Sumich believes the time has come for the club to move on from premiership-winning coach Adam Simpson.

On the back of their fifth loss with a triple-digit margin this year, Sumich told Sports Breakfast the club needed a fresh voice in charge.

“It just looks like it’s got to be changed, unfortunately, and that’s the way it is,” Sumich said.

“You’re not doubting the person and the character of the person you’re getting rid of, it’s just the way sport is. You make moves to make your side better. Everyone feels for a coach or an administrator or an assistant coach who loses their coach in sport.”

“I’ve been in it, you’re under the pump and your job is on the line and you’re nervous and you’re going ‘jeez, where am I going to get my next paycheck from if I get the sack here, I’ll have to try and find a job’, but that’s the job you go into. When it’s all going well, you’re king of the castle.”

“You have a use-by date and whether you go out on the top or you go out on the bottom, it doesn’t matter.”

Sumich said the replacement for Brady Hough, who was withdrawn from the game only seconds before bouncedown due to concerns over his ability to pass a PED test after using a Ventolin puffer, was emblematic of the game-day issues at the club.

“How can you not bring in Rhett Bazzo, and you bring in Jack Williams? What was the reasoning? Hough is a backman, why would you go and bring a ruckman in?” he questioned.

“That’s a bad mistake and no one’s talked about that. He’s got away with blue murder with that selection, that was a joke.

“The coach and the match committee are making blues. When they start doing that, I reckon they’ve got to move on a lot of people.”

Fremantle small forward Lachie Schultz and ruckman Luke Jackson tied in the voting for the Glendenning-Allan medal on the night, but Schultz was awarded the medal on countback due to receiving three votes from two of the three judges.

Multiple medals in the event of a tie were awarded as recently as 2018, with Sumich saying he did not understand why the rules had been changed.

“I was talking to [Glen Jakovich] after, he voted and he probably mucked it up a little bit,” he joked.

“[He gave] Schultz one and Jackson three and he had Clark in there, I don’t know where Clark comes from. I told Jacko that.

“I would, in my opinion, give both medals out. I think that’s the way it should be.”

Both WA teams have been eliminated from the finals running with two weeks left in the season, with this weekend seeing West Coast take on the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Sunday morning while the Dockers will welcome Port Adelaide to Optus Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

IMAGE: The Age Newspaper