Adam Simpson and his team are not getting ahead of themselves despite external noise about the teams’ capabilities in 2015.
A seven-and-two start to the season has prompted many to assert the Eagles as a potential top-four team, but Simpson was quick to play down such talk.
“We’re not living in that space, to be honest,” Simpson told Talking Footy.
“We block up the year in little four-week blocks and we keep ticking off the wins at the moment.
“We’re improving, we’re playing a pretty good brand at the moment as well, I think it’s standing up in bigger games.
“That’s the challenge for us, can it stand up this week against North.”
With North Melbourne Coach Brad Scott sidelined for a month due to a back injury, some experts have suggested it would be a distraction for the Kangaroos players having to adapt to their new leader. But Simpson disagreed.
Improvement no.1 goal: Simpson
“I don’t think they can change too much,” he said.
“I think they’ll stick to what they’ve been doing for the last five years.
“Darren coached me in 2009 for the last six or seven weeks, so I know Darren quite well.
“But I don’t think he’ll be changing the game plan this week.”
