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Find your Sport Nation frequencySimpson and McQualter comment on “heart and soul” Allen
Andrew Slevison • April 4th, 2025 4:02 pm
Oscar Allen has created plenty of headlines over the course of the week.
The West Coast co-captain secretly met with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell, which set the footy industry news feed ablaze, and resulted in a press conference to address the situation.
All and sundry have had their say on the matter including Allen’s former coach Adam Simpson.
Simpson, who appointed Allen as joint Eagles skipper in 2024, reacted to what the key forward had to say on Thursday.
“I’m not quite sure if it was the best way to make an apology,” Simpson said on SEN.
“I’m too removed, but I'm too close at the same time to have a full opinion.
“But my first reaction is Oscar, and that's just me knowing Oscar and how he's had to handle a self-inflicted situation in the last three or four days, so I would be putting my arms around him as much as I can. I just hope that's happening within the four walls.”
Simpson feels that Allen would have wanted to clear his conscience although he does not believe he was obliged to speak publicly.
He does, however, believe the timing suits given the Eagles aren't playing in Perth again until Round 6.
They play the Giants at ENGIE Stadium this weekend before taking off to South Australia for their Gather Round clash with Carlton.
“When you have a bad performance or you play poorly, sometimes you just want to be told you're bad and you want to self-regulate, ‘you know what, I put my hand up, I didn't play well, and then you can at least say I'm being honest’,” Simpson added.
“I get the feeling maybe Oscar said, ‘listen, I need to just cleanse myself here so I can walk away knowing I've put my hand up because out of all the rhetoric' - and the internal is the most important - but the external from the supporters is pretty big in Western Australia at the moment, and he's not used to that and none of our players are.
“So I suspect it's an apology, which I didn't see coming. I didn't think it was necessary, but it happened, and hopefully they can move on and he can move on, and thank God they're playing in Sydney this week.”
The 2018 Eagles premiership coach questioned the advice Allen received form his manager Andrew McDougall in the lead-up to the Hawks meeting.
“Well, this is the reason why we do things behind closed doors, and I'm not saying putting any blame on Sam and Hawthorn, but this is what you get when you're so public,” he continued.
“Oscar's picking up the pieces now and and that's why I wouldn't do it, but that's just the way of the world.
“Unfortunately the manager didn't read the cues and neither did Oscar, so as much as it's on maybe Sam and Hawthorn and how they do things, ultimately it's on the manager and the player to make the decision to meet.”
Simpson, who coached Allen from his draft year in 2017 until 2024, hopes the West Coast faithful do not turn on the 96-gamer.
He is confident that Eagles fans know how much Allen loves the club and hopes they understand him assessing his options.
He added: “The only question you ask is - if it gets out, what happens?
“That's all you need to ask, and they're thinking about the ripple and anything in our industry is really important because if you don't, you get caught with your pants down really.
“Yep, it's a lesson learned, hopefully it's not too harsh that he's just ostracised from the supporter group.
“They know he's a heart and soul player, he bleeds, he's a West Coast supporter growing up, he's from West Perth, he loves the club.
“He loves being captain, he loves leadership, and clearly when you're out of contract in Round 4, you’ve got to kick some tyres, you've got to actually go, 'well, this might not work, I want it to work, but it might not, so therefore I need to do a bit of due diligence'.
“Unfortunately it just wasn't done the right way.”
Current Eagles coach Andrew McQualter defended Allen for his actions, insisting he should not feel ashamed or embarrassed of the situation.
“I do just want to say, without speaking for Oscar I don’t think he should feel ashamed of what’s happened,” he said.
“I don’t think that’s the right word. I’m understanding the situation isn’t ideal for everyone but it’s certainly not shame he should be feeling. I just want to support him in that space.
“It’s not my question to answer how Oscar should be feeling. Oscar’s got a job of co-captain of our football club. He understands that and he can’t wait to play this weekend.”
