Former West Coast coach Adam Simpson has recently met with North Melbourne football boss Todd Viney as the Kangaroos start the process of replacing Alastair Clarkson.
7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary has revealed that Simpson is now considering his next steps and whether to put his hat in the ring for the vacant coaching position.
Simpson was of course a former captain of the Roos, and played in their 1996 and 1999 premiership teams
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“Simpson was on the panel that chose Josh Fraser as coach of Carlton a month ago, now he’s considering his own place (on the coaching landscape),” Cleary said.
“The Roos have started their informal catch-ups to gauge interest in the market and insist that every candidate will need to go through the same process.”
Simpson, a premiership coach at the Eagles, was immediately linked to the job after North Melbourne sacked Clarkson at the start of September.
“To be honest it’s all a bit of a shock. I think Horse (John Longmire) and I both have a relationship with Alastair and I can’t take my headspace out of him and what he’s going through,” Simpson said in the immediate aftermath of Clarkson’s bombshell sacking.
“The club will work through what they need to work through. And to be brutally honest, I haven’t given it a lot of thought. It’s a bit early.
“I played 300 games at North Melbourne so there is always the love of the club and the people there so that’s definitely real, but I was loyal to West Coast at the time. It’s a little bit different this time.” Simpson said.
Simpson coached West Coast from 2014 to 2024, and took them to a famous grand final victory in 2018.
The trade period starts on October 5, but the Roos are adamant they won’t be rushing the process simply to have someone in place for the start of the player movement period.
North Melbourne are in desperate need of key defenders and are circling Essendon’s Jordan Ridley.
Ridley has already had a medical at North, but he does have three years remaining on his Essendon contract.
More to come …
