West Coast mentor Adam Simpson has rejected suggestions AFL footballers would play with more instinct and flair if there were fewer coaches at clubs.

Speaking on SEN, Simpson acknowledged the League had a “massive job” ahead to steer the competition through the COVID-19 pandemic and accepted change was coming to the industry.

However, the 2018 premiership coach dismissed talk that less coaches would lead to more aesthetically pleasing football at the elite level.

“That’s ridiculous. The number one priority we have as a coaching group is to get them to play to their strengths and make them feel like they’re good enough to do anything they can,” Simpson said.

“The support mechanisms we put in place now – coaches are a part of it – but the whole football department is based around getting our players to play at their best.

“Maybe every club is a little bit different, but I don’t buy into the fact we’re restricting players to play with more flair. We encourage it, we want it.

“The notion that you pull back the coaches and you’re going to score more or they won’t be able to defend as well, it’s not that restrictive, it really isn’t.

“We spend a lot of our time trying to get our players to play with freedom and flair.”

Simpson also warned that a diverse range of players might not make it into the competition in coming seasons if support around footballers was drastically cut.

“That’s why (football) departments have grown because our ability to take on diverse cultures and bigger risks because we can handle it a bit better,” Simpson said.

“That’s the balance on reducing everything – can we still draft that kid (from a challenging upbringing)?”

Simpson insisted that a holistic approach to player welfare had been a crucial part of his coaching in seven seasons at the helm, believing it helped produce positive on-field results.

“I feel like as a coach, and I’m not alone here, treating the players a little bit differently and getting a lot more buy-in from them has been a critical part to my coaching the last four or five years and we seem to get more out of players when we give them more care and support,” he said.

“Of course you’ve got to give them some of the realities of where they’re at, but the holistic approach to our playing group has gone to another level and that’s what a lot of our staff do.

“You look at our coaches (box) on game day and you think ‘there is too many in there’ but that is the smallest part of our week is gameday.

“A lot of the work we do is for the player off-field and how much care and support we give them.”