ADAM Simpson says he's going to back himself and lean on his experiences as he embarks on his first-year as West Coast coach.

Simpson has surrounded himself with one of the most inexperienced coaching groups in the AFL, but believes his time as a player with North Melbourne under Denis Pagan and Dean Laidley and as an assistant coach at Hawthorn under Alastair Clarkson will help him as a senior coach. 

"What I've learnt most over my journey to get to here is that there is more than one way to go about it," Simpson told AFL.com.au.

"There is no thought of 'this is the way the game should be played'. So it's just developing your own style and giving the players confidence to think that it can work.

"In terms of mentoring, they're not the type of guys I'll ring every day but quite often I would sit there and I would think ‘what would Clarko do, or what would Denis or Dean do?’ That's in the back of your mind."

Simpson has made a significant impression on both West Coast’s playing group and its administration in the short time he has been in charge. He doesn't think he has done anything special other than be himself. 

"I've heard Leon Cameron say it's just a common sense approach. That's probably my approach," Simpson said.

"I don't want to overcomplicate things. We all tend to sometimes, especially with the way the game is played. I'm pretty big on relationships and unity. They're some real basic things that is just me and my personality."

Simpson says that building relationships with this playing group is taking time.

"You can't just assume that you get instant respect. I'm aware of that," Simpson said.

"We're still forming relationships so that's probably what's unique about a new coach coming to the club. On top of the game plan, new coaches and all those things, it's building relationships with your staff and players. That's still evolving."

The Eagles’ game style has been a big talking point throughout the summer. Better ball movement is one of the things Simpson is trying to improve with this West Coast squad but he says his side will not have a distinctly structured game plan. 

"The style of play that we're going to introduce is not rigid," Simpson said.

"We want some flexibility in our team. So they've done everything they can to embrace it. We're different than last year. Not better or worse, just a different style. How they adapt to it, I don't think you can really tell until you start playing so we need to play as many games as we can up to round one."

Simpson couldn’t predict how the Eagles will go in 2014 and said the aim is simply to improve in as many areas as possible.

He paid tribute to his predecessor John Worsfold and the work the 2006 premiership coach did in instilling a strong training culture at West Coast.

"I think it's an indication of how Woosha was as a coach and what he held as non-negotiable," Simpson said.

"I saw it at Hawthorn as well. The work-rate and the work ethic, the intensity, and how they train is unquestioned.

"In fact, it was almost the case where I was telling guys to pull back a tiny bit, we were going too hard."