Simpson says Roos worthy of respect

AS FAR as Adam Simpson is concerned, West Coast will be taking on the team sitting fourth on the ladder when the defending premier hosts North Melbourne today.

The Kangaroos (7-10) are 13th on the AFL table, meaning their finals hopes barely have a pulse.

But Simpson has thrown out the season-long ladder and is instead focusing on form over the past eight weeks, where the Kangaroos have been one of the best teams in the competition.

North Melbourne has won five of its past eight games, with four of those wins coming under caretaker coach Rhyce Shaw. Though the Kangaroos have lost their past two games, they were tight defeats to Essendon (five points) and Brisbane (12 points). Only three teams have a better record than the Roos over the past eight weeks, with Brisbane, West Coast, and Essendon posting 6-2 records.

“It’s interesting isn’t it, the ladder positions don’t reflect teams at the moment,” Simpson said. “We looked at the ladder of where [North] would be since Shaw took over, and they’re fourth.

“The distinct changes in some of the ways they approach the game — they start really well, they’re very combative, and they’ve got belief. They’ve been in every game they’ve played in for the last seven weeks, and we don’t think it’s going to be much different this weekend.”

West Coast will again be without skipper Shannon Hurn (calf), but Jeremy McGovern was able to recover from the ankle injury he sustained in last week’s 13point win over Melbourne.

Will Schofield comes in for the axed Tom Cole.