West Coast set to announce Adam Simpson as new senior coach Hawthorn's senior assistant Adam Simpson set to be appointed West Coast coach. ADAM Simpson has won the race to become coach of West Coast, with the club overlooking dual premiership star Peter Sumich. Simpson, 37, will be unveiled as the Eagles" sixth coach at a press conference at club headquarters on Friday morning. Sumich, 45, had been regarded as the favourite to take over from John Worsfold and his latest snub comes as a devastating blow to the long-time assistant coach. Sumich served under Worsfold for a decade at the Eagles before moving to Fremantle to work under Ross Lyon two years ago. Simpson, the Hawthorn assistant coach and dual premiership player with North Melbourne, said he was looking forward to coaching in his own right. "I am grateful for this opportunity and I look forward to moving across to Perth with my family and settling in to the challenge ahead,"" Simpson said. I would like to acknowledge both Hawthorn and North Melbourne for the grounding they have given to me in this game. Hawthorn has been fantastic for me in the last four years and it was certainly a great experience to be a part of the coaching group as the club achieved the ultimate success last Saturday. West Coast chairman Alan Cransberg thanked the other candidates who had been interviewed for the role, including Sumich, Leigh Tudor and current assistant Scott Burns. "I am sure they will continue to add enormous value in assistant roles or any future senior coaching roles," Cransberg said. It was a tough job for the selection panel and the board to arrive at this unanimous decision, but we believe Adam is best equipped to take the club forward. Simpson was a member of the Kangaroos' 1996 and '99 premiership sides, and also captained North Melbourne. It came down to a race for two on Monday when both Sumich and Simpson presented to the club's board. They were both called in to a second interview on Tuesday and psyche testing on Wednesday before Simpson was ratified by the Eagles' board on Thursday. Simpson, who made his senior debut against West Coast at Princes Park in round 18, 1995, played 306 games for North Melbourne before retiring midway through the 2009 season. He spent five years as club captain, was a premiership player in 1996 and 1999, won the club's fairest and best award in 2002 and was an All-Australian player in the same year. PLAYING Club: North Melbourne Drafted: No.14 in 1993 national draft from Eltham/Northern U18 Career span: 1995-2009 Games: 306 (equal third highest in North Melbourne's history behind Brent Harvey 362 and Glenn Archer 311 and equal with Wayne Schimmelbusch) Honours: premiership sides 1996 and "99; best and fairest 2002 (four other top-three placings); All-Australian 2002; club captain 2004-08 COACHING Hawthorn assistant coach 2010-13