New Hawthorn assistant coach Kade Simpson says it was a call out of the blue from Sam Mitchell that kickstarted the process for his first job in the AFL coaching ranks.
Simpson was unveiled by the Hawks on Thursday afternoon, marking his first foray into AFL coaching after stints with Carlton’s VFL and AFLW programs.
The 342-game Blues veteran will now take charge of Hawthorn’s defence and replace Robert Harvey in the club’s assistant ranks.
Harvey departed the club a little over two weeks ago to join St Kilda under Ross Lyon, and Simpson revealed Mitchell got in contact over a “potential” position opening up at Hawthorn.
Harvey had been linked to Lyon’s coaching team since the former Saints coach became the favourite for the job shortly after Brett Ratten’s sacking in mid-October.
“I was actually holidaying in Bali a few weeks ago, got a phone call from a number, I was unsure who it was but I answered and it was Sam Mitchell ringing from Scotland at the time,” Simpson told SEN’s The Run Home.
“It was about 3:00am in Scotland, I was about to hook into my first Bintang in Bali, he just spoke to me about a potential opportunity coming up at Hawthorn.
“Once I was back in the country and he was as well we had a bit of an interview process and a few days later they sent an offer through and I’m at Hawthorn.”
Simpson is one of only six Blues to have played more than 300 games for the club. He also won the club’s best and fairest as a running half-back in 2013 and served time as vice-captain of Carlton.
The 38-year-old suggested coaching had been on his mind since late in his AFL career, but his plans had to be readjusted during the pandemic.
“Probably the back end of my playing career I was leaning that (coaching) way. 2020 was not the best year to retire when footy departments were cut by a couple million dollars, so I was lucky enough to land a part-time role in the AFLW program at Carlton,” he added.
“I sort of kept the foot in the door and almost tested the waters if it was something I wanted to do full time and I loved every minute of it.
“There were never enough hours in the program unfortunately in the AFLW, but I loved every second I was there and was just craving more and more and more.
“So I’m really excited Hawthorn has given me the opportunity to do that full-time.”