Adam Simpson has backed away from applying to coach his beloved former club North Melbourne.
A two-time Kangaroos premiership player and former captain, the 50-year-old has been out of coaching since leaving West Coast late in the 2024 season.
North’s shock decision to sack Alastair Clarkson earlier this month thrust Simpson back into the spotlight just a month after he helped Carlton appoint Josh Fraser as their new coach.
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Fellow North great John Longmire, who has remained at Sydney since stepping down as Swans coach at the end of 2024, has also been mooted for a return to Arden St.
Simpson met with Roos football boss Todd Viney and CEO Jen Watt this week as the club looks to form a shortlist of candidates.
“I think I’m not going to take it any further,” the Eagles’ 2018 premiership coach told SEN on Thursday morning.
“I had a good chat with Todd and Jen, which was reported, which is fine, and just upon reflection it’s probably not going to work for me this time round.
“So I let them know yesterday and will let them continue on their journey, whether they get an old or new, that’s totally up to North Melbourne.”
Simpson said he “never crossed the line” of no return after battling some “hesitancy” against the idea that leading his former club “would be cool”.
“Then I realised in the end it probably didn’t suit me as well as I thought it did. Decision was made, didn’t have to go the all-in,” he said.
“I was on the precipice, that doesn’t mean you get the job or anything but once you’re in, you’re in. Worked through that as best I could with the family and with my manager and we got to the decision to pass.”
Simpson has shunned every coaching vacancy since leaving the Eagles after a nearly 250-game coaching career.
He believes North “just want the best coach for the job” and do not have a preference for a first-timer or an experienced leader.
But Simpson’s involvement in the Carlton process — the Blues appointed their interim Fraser after also interviewing the likes of coaching hopefuls Jaymie Graham, Corey Enright and James Kelly — was a serious concern.
St Kilda great and 7AFL expert Nick Riewoldt argued the “optics are bad” and wondered whether Simpson would have helped Carlton had he known the North role would become available.
Simpson did not share any regrets but said he wrestled with the situation.
“I think there’s an undercurrent across the competition that the new (coach) is the new fashion, which is absolutely fine,” he said.
“The other piece too, I was on the Carlton coaching panel a month ago and I critiqued these young coaches that potentially you go against.
“I’m not that comfortable going through exactly the same process with guys I’m sitting with and going ‘look, let’s look at your presentation, I think you could’ve done this a little bit better, why don’t you do this next time, more detail there on your leadership program and how you measure development’.
“(I was) really trying to help these young coaches, and then to go against them four weeks later (at North), that felt awkward to a certain degree.
“Not that that would stop you. I think if you’re dog-hungry for a job then you go ‘I don’t care, I’ll walk over everyone to get it’ — that was definitely what I was like when I was 38 (before winning the West Coast job) and (I was) perhaps a little bit more measured with this one.
“Not to be, but I’m sure they’ll get a really good candidate and a really good coach.”
Asked if Simpson felt he was among the experienced but out-of-work coaches being “tarred with a brush” that the game has gone past them, he said the idea was “misconstrued a little bit” since North Melbourne’s fiery press conference on Clarkson’s sacking.
Viney and club president Sonja Hood had declared they wanted a coach “for the modern game”.
“I think ‘today’s game’ is not about the style of play, I think it’s about how you treat young people and how you manage your staff and your cohort,” Simpson said.
“I’ve seen 60 games live this year. I’ve seen more football this year than I have in the last five years. It’s been interesting how you guys (commentators), 3-4 games a weekend and then you critique every game. It’s been a different lens.
“And obviously going through the process at Carlton and seeing some of the modern coaches and young coaches, that’s not what you’re looking for.
“The systems and the game plans, they come and go and they evolve. There’s a lot of things you’ve been doing for years. It’s probably more the younger generation, how do you connect with young people, the programs you run, are you a micromanager, can you delegate? All those things is probably more the modern game than the style of play. Things evolve slower than you think.
“I think that’s the notion around the modern game. And then there’s the second-time coaches and where do they fit in in the current environment.
“We’ve seen some good evidence this year on the young coaches coming in and having a good impact. Swings and roundabouts.”
Simpson led West Coast to a grand final in his second season in charge, when he was just 39 years old, and won the premiership three years later.
But the Eagles slowly faded as a contender over the next three years and collapsed from late in 2021 season.
Simpson recorded just 12 wins from his last 73 games.
