“Fired a bullet”: Simpson commends McQualter over honest QT assessment

Jaiden Sciberras • June 16th, 2025 8:00 pm

While the Eagles put in a commendable three-quarter effort against the Blues on Sunday night, the game was all but lost within a rather disappointing first term.

Conceding an insurmountable seven goals to just one in the first exchange, Carlton broke out to 39-point lead at the break, and although the Blues parked the bus for the remainder of the contest, the Eagles’ 45 points across the final three terms exceeded Carlton’s 40.

Within the first term, the Eagles finished up with a disastrous -53 disposals and -20 in contested possessions. If these efforts were repeated across four terms, the contest would have lodged as the sixth largest disposal differential in AFL history, and by far the largest contested possession differential since the stat was recorded.

Following a fiery quarter time exchange with his side, Andrew McQualter delivered a rather honest message within his quarter time interview with Fox Footy.

“We were pathetic in the contest,” McQualter told Fox Footy’s Kath Loughnan at quarter time.

“Simply, we’ve got to bounce back from that. We’ve got an idea around the method they’ve got around the ball.

“We just collapsed on it; we are not getting it done with the ball in our hands. We’ve got to improve in that space.”

Speaking on McQualter’s comments, Eagles’ premiership coach Adam Simpson believes the strong approach was entirely appropriate.

“You can’t do a lot of coaching if you can’t win the ball,” Simpson told SEN WA Breakfast.

“There’s a hard edge about Mini that I like. What he was saying was, their ability to collapse in on the play and let them get on the outside is what he was talking about.

“The word pathetic is some strong word though, isn’t it? At least he was raw with his feedback.

“I think he’s got a pragmatic approach as well as a blunt conversation.

“He fired a bullet on the weekend at quarter time, and deservedly so.”

West Coast have the bye in Round 15, followed by a major challenge in the Magpies at Marvel Stadium the following week.