The Eagles were immediately ruled out of September following Richmond’s upset victory over the Swans in Sydney on Saturday, but regrouped to defeat Gold Coast by 52 points the following afternoon.
Simpson said he has been impressed with the team’s improved skill level this year, but is hoping to see more consistency with ball use.
“We’ve been working on a lot of things with our fundamentals, so ground balls, kicking, marking, just the basics,” Simpson told Eagle Vision.
“We think we could be a little bit more brave with our ball movement, so we’ve been working on that. But to do that, you’ve got to win the ball.
“It’s pretty basic, but it’s helping our style of play. When it clicks, it looks really sharp. When we fatigue, it drops away.”
Simpson has also praised the efforts of his defensive players who, in the absence of skipper Darren Glass and former vice-captain Beau Waters, have played a key role for the team throughout the season.
“I think on average we’re 20 to 25 points better a week than we were last year with our defence,” Simpson said.
“It’s a young backline and they’ve gelled really well together. They’ve kept us in games a lot for the year, so apart from a handful of games they’ve been really important for us.
“They’re playing a different system, which probably gets a bit technical. They’re doing things a bit differently from last year and it’s taken a bit to get used to that, but we think it’s paying off.”
The Eagles were hit hard by injury throughout the season, and Simpson placed great importance on the return of senior players such as Matt Rosa and Xavier Ellis, as well as Scott Selwood and Elliot Yeo who both played their first game in three months against the Suns.
“I think what’s disappointing is we haven’t had the chance to play our best 22, which you never really do, but we’ve been depleted a little bit,” Simpson said.
“Getting a full complement back is very important to us, and we’ve also got to build on the depth of our midfield and their strength and size.
“To see what we’ve done in the last four or five weeks without probably seven of our starting 18... it’s been exciting for the guys to step up and fill the void."
