AAA<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s AFL Briefing, your wrap of footy news:West Coast premiership coach has ruled himself out of the running to take on the Carlton roleChris Scott said he understood the interest around the AFL enforcing salary cap rulesPort Adelaide superstar Zak Butters has spoken on his playing future<\/p>\n
West Coast premiership coach Adam Simpson, a part-time coaching consultant at Carlton, has officially ruled himself out of contention to be the Blues\u2019 next senior coach.<\/p>\n
A week after Simpson refused to declare if he wanted to coach Carlton, indicating that the circumstances of Michael Voss\u2019 departure meant it was too soon to put his hand up, he has put a line through his own name and said: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel right.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Adam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779289995_919_281f09c621f32cb47d95bdd6bd73d4c9ca3cc8fc.jpeg\")
Adam Simpson (right), the 2018 West Coast premiership coach, is a part-time consultant at Carlton. He spoke last year at an AFL club leaders luncheon alongside Blues skipper Patrick Cripps (left) and Simon Goodwin.Joe Armao<\/p>\n
The 2018 premiership coach and veteran of more than 300 AFL matches as a player with North Melbourne said he had \u201ca very brief\u201d conversation about the role with Carlton\u2019s hierarchy, but the talks didn\u2019t advance far.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to put my hand up for any type of role with Carlton, from a coaching point of view,\u201d Simpson said on Fox Footy, where he appears as a regular panelist.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I said it last week, really. It\u2019s difficult when you\u2019re working at the club and mentoring someone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel right.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo people can stop asking me questions on it. I take myself out of contention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simpson finished with explanation about his choice not to put his hand up by declaring that whoever gets the Carlton job \u201cwill have a good career\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, at the moment, it just didn\u2019t feel right,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re working with someone and the coaching staff \u2013 to come in and try and [take the senior job], yeah, that\u2019s not quite right for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure whoever takes that job will have a good career.\u201d<\/p>\n
There has been intrigue about Simpson\u2019s availability to rejoin the coaching ranks after he signed on to a mentoring and coaching consultant role at Carlton for 2026 while scrutiny grew on Voss\u2019 coaching future. That focus on Voss intensified after the Blues\u2019 poor start to the season.<\/p>\n
A week ago, Simpson was noncommittal about whether he\u2019d put his hand up for the Carlton job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Simpson said on Fox Footy at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday [the answer] is \u2018No\u2019, but what is it like in 10, 14, 15 weeks?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s weird to say because people think there\u2019s an answer coming straight away \u2013 yes or no.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m assuming there\u2019s some career coaches out there who [would say], \u2018I\u2019m a career coach, I will do coaching \u2019til the day I die\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201c[But] there\u2019s a bit more depth, I suppose, to our lives. And there\u2019s a lot to work through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ex Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has not ruled himself out of the running for the role<\/a>, but last week gave a ringing endorsement for 2012 Sydney premiership coach John Longmire. \u2018Inuendo, half-truths\u2019: Chris Scott dismisses football links to alleged fraudster<\/p>\n Geelong says former coterie member Sy Giang Nguyen, who is under investigation for allegedly defrauding local not-for-profit genU<\/a>, had no role within the football department during Chris Scott\u2019s time as Cats\u2019 coach.<\/p>\n The dual premiership coach was responding to a News Corp report that Scott and football manager Andrew Mackie were staying at the same hotel as Nguyen when they travelled to Sydney early in the 2023 season.<\/p>\n The trip occurred months before police revealed they were investigating the former genU employee for alleged fraud, and also occurred within the time frame of the AFL\u2019s extended audit<\/a> into Geelong\u2019s administration of player payments and third-party deals, which spanned from 2019-2024.<\/p>\n The AFL found no breach of player payment or player movement rules had occurred; however the Cats were fined $77,500 (with $40,000 suspended) for administrative errors.<\/p>\n The audit identified a series of non-disclosures and\/or late disclosures of arrangements with club associates and third parties that should have been reported to the AFL.<\/p>\n \u201cI do understand the interest in the AFL enforcing the broader soft cap, especially the salary cap,\u201d Scott said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cOur club\u2019s been through an extensive audit over the previous 12 months or so, and we feel like we\u2019re through that now. We completely support that the AFL have a role to play within this, and we feel really comfortable with them taking on that role, and two, us participating in any queries they might have, but a sort of public commentary around it, I suspect, probably, leads to innuendo, half-truths, and extrapolations.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott said that he knew Nguyen but he \u201cwas in no way, shape or form involved in the trip that Andrew and I took\u201d, nor did he socialise with them on the trip.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t surprise you or anyone else to know that I\u2019m not intimately involved in the booking of work travel,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n Geelong confirmed the club paid for Scott and Mackie\u2019s travel to Sydney, and the accommodation.<\/p>\n The Cats coach said the Geelong football department remained separate from the commercial department, which deals with corporate sponsors and coterie members.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if the expectation is that the clubs can vet people on things that may happen into the future, that\u2019s a very high bar to set, and we may well find ourselves with no corporate support as well,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n No charges have been laid against Nguyen, however investigations are ongoing and the club has not had ties with him since becoming aware of the fraud allegations.<\/p>\n Nguyen, as well as late Geelong businessman Keith Greenwood, agreed to pay $5.4 million to the charity in a civil case as genU attempted to retrieve part of the missing $14.5 million. This masthead reported in December<\/a> that, after making an initial payment of $1.4 million, the pair had not made further payments. \u2018Emotional\u2019: AFL\u2019s hottest property on playing future<\/p>\n Zak Butters says it\u2019s almost time to seriously think about what the rest of the AFL has been talking about all year.<\/p>\n And Port Adelaide\u2019s star midfielder says it will be emotional, regardless of where he decides to play from next season.<\/p>\n The AFL\u2019s hottest property insists he\u2019s yet to seriously weigh multimillion-dollar dollars from rival clubs to return to his native Victoria when his contract at Port expires at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s obviously a big decision,\u201d Butters told reporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cYou think about everything … there\u2019s emotion attached to it, definitely. No matter what the decision is, it\u2019s going to be a pretty emotional one from my end, no matter what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n Butters on Saturday night will play his 150th AFL game when the Power host Carlton at Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n Port\u2019s club champion for the past three seasons will then return to his family home in Darley, about 55 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, during the Power\u2019s bye the following weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I haven\u2019t even spoken to my family too much about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have just really enjoyed having them at games and playing footy.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I always said I\u2019d probably think about it more in the back half of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cJust like 150 games, it creeps up on you quickly. So it\u2019s probably something I need to start having some conversations around with family and friends and people I\u2019m closest to.\u201d<\/p>\n The Western Bulldogs and Geelong are considered at the front of a long queue of clubs trying to lure the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n But the dynamic on-baller said there was a romance of being a one-club player such as Port icons Travis Boak and Robbie Gray – both Victorian-born stars who resisted offers to return home during their careers. Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n
-Scott Spits<\/p>\n![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/afee6afe97410f0ff9a54c1d4c16f7b85282f870.jpeg\")
Chris Scott spoke about the AFL\u2019s audit of the Cats.AFL Photos<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/07fe986965234c0e5b1f4cab52e52dd93d59a0cee33bed0b75950dcc3571b9f6.jpeg\")
Former Geelong Cats sponsor Sy Giang Nguyen.Artwork: Marija Ercegovac<\/p>\n
– Peter Ryan<\/p>\n![\"Zak](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6b16f47e52874ef459eed675c9f4aeb5fbf87a40.jpeg\")
Zak Butters could be on the way back to Victoria.AFL Photos<\/p>\n
– AAP<\/p>\n