Two 'clear favourites' emerge as West Coast Eagles coaching candidates whittled down to four

The West Coast Eagles have reportedly narrowed down their head coaching candidate shortlist to four as they look to name Adam Simpson's successor in the coming weeks. It's been more than two months since the Eagles and Simpson parted ways, and now the club may finally be set to lock down a new coach, with SEN reporting the club has it down to the quartet of Andrew McQualter, Steven King, Brett Montgomery and Hayden Skipworth - with McQualter and King the two frontrunners.

Sydney assistant and West Coast great Dean Cox was reportedly the club's ideal Simpson replacement but he has repeatedly ruled himself out of the running. Cox told the club he was happy with his role at the Swans and with life in Sydney. It is also understood that West Coast recently approached Cox again to see if he had changed his mind, but to no avail. Cox is widely tipped to succeed John Longmire at the Swans when the 2012 premiership coach decides to step down and the Eagles have reportedly moved on from Cox, accepting they won't be able to change his mind.

Coaching candidates Ash Hansen, Josh Carr, Jaymie Graham and Daniel Giansiracusa have also ruled themselves out in recent months. While it is understood Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley was never approached and even if he was viewed as an option, he had no desire to move to Perth.

The Eagles' five-person sub-committee led by chief executive Don Pyke, tasked with appointing the club's next coach, has now narrowed the candidate list down to four. But SEN reporter Sam Edmund says King and McQualter are the two standout options.

King - a 240-game player with Geelong and St Kilda - returned to the Cats this season as a senior assistant alongside Chris Scott and is understood to have impressed the board. He has coaching experience at four clubs, including Gold Coast where he served in an interim capacity before Damien Hardwick was appointed. While McQualter joined the Demons for the 2024 season after spending a decade at Richmond where he learnt his trade under Hardwick and served as an interim coach for 13 games.

Hayden Skipworth seen as leading contender for Eagles job

But 7News reports that Skipworth is actually the most likely to be appointed as the new full-time coach with the Eagles coaching selection panel impressed with his focus on development, modern game plan principles and player connection. "The highly-rated Skipworth has become a focus of the Eagles’ coaching selection panel, impressing with his focus on development and modern game plan principles," Ryan Daniels told 7News on Monday night.

Fox Footy's AFL 360 hosts also endorsed Skipworth on Monday night stating he is well prepared due to his time at the Magpies. "They’re in the phase where it would feel like four coaches going through the last step – Skipworth, Steven King, Rhett Montgomerie and Andrew McQualter, and the tea leaves say that this has moved in Skipworth’s direction," Gerard Whateley said.

But Herald Sun Chief Footballer writer Mark Robinson believes the race is still well and truly on. "Well, I’m not drinking any of the tea leaves, I haven’t seen any of the tea leaves Gerard to be honest," Robinson replied. “All I know is what I’ve been reading, I read last week that Steven King was favourite, got told over the weekend that Andrew McQualter’s looking really good – and now you’re telling me Monday night that the West Australian journos are saying that Hayden Skipworth (has) now rocketed to favouritism.

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"I know Skipworth’s pretty well respected. He was at Essendon, then at Collingwood – so if he gets a job, well done – he’s done a very, very good apprenticeship."

The 41-year-old has been part of the Collingwood coaching panel since 2020, playing a key role in the Pies’ 2023 premiership success under Craig McRae and before that ran Collingwood’s talent academy.