West Coast Eagles coach Adam Simpson says he feels as ready as he can for his AFL coaching debut this Sunday.

Speaking to 6PR’s Sports Today program on Monday night, when asked if he was nervous Simpson said he’s looking forward to the game day experience.

“It’s hard to describe, it’s a little bit, from a personal point of view, a bit of the unknown really,” the first year coach said.

“You think you’re doing everything at a reasonable level, but until you’re doing everything in the heat of the battle, it’s really hard to tell.

“No doubt we’ll make some rookie errors along the way, but hopefully not to the point where it costs us the game.”


One man who he won’t have at his disposal is inside midfielder Mark Hutchings, who has been ruled out with a back injury.

Despite being disappointed for the 2012 WAFL Simpson Medallist, Simpson said it’s the reality of missing games at this time of the year.

“He’s just a bit tight in the lower back in the last couple of weeks,” Simpson said.

“Unfortunately, at this time of the year, if you don’t play games, it’s really hard to justify your selection for round one.

“Hopefully it’s a short-term thing and he can get some footy under his belt in the next week or so.

“Hutch, when he was playing, was performing at a really good standard for us, albeit practice match and NAB Challenge.

“But he was displaying enough qualities to give him round one selection, so we’re disappointed he won’t be available.”

On the flipside, the match committee has several selection headaches ahead of them with nearly a full squad to choose from, and some big names returning from long lay-offs.

One man who is set to return is star ruckman Nic Naitanui, who has progressed nicely over the last few weeks to make himself available for selection, but Simpson still hasn’t got his head around just how good the big man could be in 2014.

“He’s had great continuity over the last month and he’s played two games at intra-club level, he’ll be available for selection,” Simpson said.

“I haven’t actually seen him play enough to get a god grasp of what he can deliver for the club, so that’s something I’m looking forward to seeing, and seeing how we can best use it for our team going forward.”