Former West Coast Eagles coach Adam Simpson has quashed rumours a return to coaching could be on the horizon, but he stopped short of ruling it out entirely.

A report in the West Australian on Wednesday stated that Adam Simpson was in “casual talks” with at least one Victorian club to return to the coaching ranks.

Appearing as a guest co-host on Fox Footy’s AFL360 on Wednesday night, Simpson engaged in a tense discussion with Melbourne champion Garry Lyon straight off the top of the show.

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“What’s casual talks mean? The only thing they got right there is ‘Simmo’. I haven’t spoken to anyone. I haven’t moved to Melbourne. It must’ve been a slow news day,” Simpson began.

But Lyon wasn’t going to stop there, probing further for more from the legendary coach.

“If Gerard was here you might be able to push him around…,” Lyon interjected.

“There’s nothing to probe,” Simpson rebutted.

“I’m going to probe. Have you been in casual talks with one Victorian (club) or more?” Lyon pressed.

“I haven’t. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of fact to that. What I have learned with that paper, if you respond, there’ll be another one,” Simpson said.

“You don’t need to pick a fight with them but it is that time of the year when your name and others will be bandied around. Is there any interest whatsoever?” Lyon continued

“No at the moment,” Simpson said.

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Lyon was quick to pick up on Simpson’s comments, but Simpson instead said he was fully focussed on his new role in the media.

“That’s qualified – at the moment – which is fair,” Lyon said.

“I’m still learning a lot of this stuff, to be honest. It feels pretty soon to be out of the game and ‘Horse’ (John Longmire) is even later. I’m enjoying this year for what it is and that’ll end in a few weeks and I’ll look towards next year when the time is right,” Simpson replied.

“There’s no jobs available for a start and there’s no real desire to jump straight back in at the moment either.”

Lyon probed again, pointing out Simpson wasn’t definitive in his defence.

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“I’m not trying to trip you up or anything, but it does sound to me like you haven’t absolutely put it definitively to bed. Which is not to say you’ve been having casual talks with one Victorian club,” Lyon said.

“It’s hard to put things to bed like that because it’s a bit raw, it’s still a bit early. Anyone who’s got out of the game from a coaching point of view, I always wondered why they say it like I’m saying it now. You don’t want to completely rule things out, but at the moment I’m really happy with what I’m doing,” Simpson added.

“And respect those that are in the job currently. The names that are bandied around, you’ve been in that position yourself,” Lyon quipped.

“Absolutely. That’s all part of it, I get all of that but trying to be respectful as much as you can. It is a fraternity, they’re still connected to a lot of those senior coaches and dealing with what they’re dealing with at the moment, I understand what they’re going through.”