“I’ll give it a spell”: Eagles premiership coach rules himself out of Demons job

Premiership coach Adam Simpson has officially ruled out a return to a senior coaching role for 2026 and will not pursue the recent opening at the Melbourne Demons.

Simpson had quickly been listed as a favourite to land the Demons' top coaching job after leaving his 11-season tenure as West Coast's coach in 2024. The door to a return to the AFL seemed to have swung further ajar after former Swans coach John Longmire reportedly removed himself from contention on Saturday.

However, Simpson clarified on SEN's WA Breakfast with Tim Gossage that he would not be involved in the upcoming process at the Demons and disputed reports that Melbourne had reached out to him as they begin their hunt for their next senior coach.

"I don't want to coach next year. I think I'll give it a spell," Simpson said. "Just thinking through it over the weekend, I know [Longmire] had done the same thing, it just doesn't feel like it's the right time to be available. They [Melbourne] haven't called me.

"Sometimes you wait for these things because you might think, 'I'm not interested', but then you get the phone call and you go, 'Hang on, now I'm wanted', so you pivot in a different way, but I've had a good think about it. I'm just not in the right headspace with it.

"I have not spoken to Melbourne about coaching at all. Whoever's reported that [is wrong]. I don't know if [Melbourne] have their preference right just yet. From what I've heard, they're going through their selection panel to organise the process.

"That's why I was reluctant to talk about it because I hadn't thought deeply about it... I'm just going to park it and get in front of it a little bit. If it did come my way, it would be a no."

Simpson will instead further pursue his interests in media and business next year, as he hasn't rediscovered the "burning desire" to lead an AFL club again since departing West Coast in 2024. The 49-year-old also couldn't confidently state that he would consider a return to coaching in the future.

"I'm enjoying all this [the media], it's the same thing as 'Horse' really. He's a bit different, it's only been eight months with him, and it's been a bit longer for me," Simpson said.

"The passion to go through all the process, because once you get approached, it's turbo and you need to really be prepared.

"I'm not really prepared and not in the right headspace. I'll continue to do media if this is part of my brief next year, because all these things aren't done either, but I feel like that's the path I'm taking at the moment.

"It's not in there right now, the burning desire. Everyone's gone through this in life, if someone wants you to do a job, especially coaching, it makes you think. I'm not in the mood to be doing that right now.

"We'll see what happens in 12 months, 18 months, two years but it could be never. Let's see how life goes, I'm enjoying what I'm doing at the moment."

With Simpson dropping out of the race, former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has emerged as the clear favourite for the Demons, while Brisbane football boss Danny Daly remains as an outside chance as a highly regarded 'coach-in-waiting'.

If Simpson's stance changes in the future, he may become a potential target to coach the Tasmania expansion team, which is set to enter the AFL in the 2028 premiership season.