Former West Coast coach Adam Simpson says retired Eagles star defender Jeremy McGovern is a ‘modern day great’Mitchell WoodcockThe West AustralianSat, 21 June 2025 11:38AMCommentsCommentsEmail Mitchell Woodcock
Former West Coast coach Adam Simpson has paid tribute to Jeremy McGovern, labelling him a “modern day great” who revolutionised their successful era in the wake of his medical retirement.
It came as Simpson revealed he had addressed the Eagles’ playing group in the wake of McGovern’s announcement on Friday to express just how much the star defender meant to the club.
McGovern drew the curtain on his accomplished career on Friday after being advised by the AFL’s concussion panel to finish up following the latest in a series of head knocks over his 197-game career.
A five-time All-Australian and 2018 premiership hero, McGovern earned a reputation as incredible intercept marking defender in a successful era for the Eagles.
Having coached McGovern for the majority of his career, Simpson spoke to the group on Friday about the defender’s career which was pivotal in delivering them a flag.
“I didn’t really talk about why he’s finishing, it’s more about his career. I think he’s played just under 200 games and he’s almost averaging an All-Australian every second year,” Simpson told SEN.
“He’s a modern day great and he’s changed the game, the way it was played. He definitely changed the way we played when we started getting some success.
“He was a forward, we put him as a back and I remember the conversation it was ‘just see if you can read the play’ … it was (against) Swan Districts, I remember it like it was yesterday, he took 10 marks, his man kicked five goals because he was that aggressive.
“He dictated what we were going to do because we ended up losing three or four key position players at the start of 2015 … him and young Tom Barrass started his career around the same time, and they started to develop a gap control way of defending all the time.
“We defended space, and he would dare you to kick it near him. He took that to another level, the evolution of what we did as a team started with McGovern at Swan Districts.”
Simpson also revealed that such was McGovern’s star power that he was getting massive offers when he was out of contract in 2018.
“During that season he was out of contract and he got massive offers and I’m talking the offers that (Tom) De Koning is getting now, that was in 2018,” Simpson said.
“He had every right just to hold off a bit but I think he knew what was coming with the success we were building, so he locked himself away, sacrificed a little bit.”
Simpson praised McGovern’s incredible ability to play through adversity, often taking to the field injured including in the 2018 premiership victory.
“From a coaching point of view, it was an absolute pleasure to coach him,” Simpson said.
“He had to step away because he refuses to yield, he’ll never take a knee.
“And that’s the piece that we spoke about yesterday, you have to stop him from playing.”
Simpson said McGovern’s impact off the field was just as significant as it was on it as he stepped away from the game.
“I can’t speak highly enough of the bloke. His biggest asset really is what he’s done off-field. He is the number one advocate for how to set you up field,” he said.
“In 30 years in the AFL I’ve never seen anyone develop a next phase of your life and it’s not money, it’s the family and then it’s the networking and the connection he had with the people who he was connected to before he got drafted.
“He’s built that plumbing business up now where he’s acquired other businesses around that … he steps away knowing the next part of his life is maybe not as exciting but it’s just as prosperous.”
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