ADAM Simpson is wary of rival clubs poaching retiring ruckman Dean Cox as a ruck coach next season.
Cox has been the Eagles' ruck coach in his 14th and final AFL season but he is yet to confirm if he will continue in a full-time coaching role next season.
The six-time All Australian will play his last home game at Patersons Stadium on Saturday night against Melbourne.
The Eagles games record holder announced his retirement a month ago and said earlier this week he was content with his decision.
Simpson said he was desperate to keep Cox within the Eagles’ nest but the first-year coach believes rival clubs would almost certainly have made approaches to the 2006 premiership ruckman.
"I've got no doubt there's clubs that are talking to him about probably playing as well as coaching," Simpson said.
"That's a decision he's got to work through but we're hoping he stays in the family.
"We'd love to (keep him). We'll work through that in the next few weeks about a role. Hopefully it's full-time and with us."
Simpson said the club will pay tribute to Cox ahead of his last game at home this week but joked that it had been a long goodbye since he announced he was retiring.
"I've probably seen five Cox videos already in the last six weeks," Simpson said.
"It's like the John Farnham tour at the moment. Look, we'll do something special for him and hopefully we can have a win."
The Eagles have made one change to the side that coughed up a 34-point lead to lose to Essendon last Saturday afternoon.
Veteran goalkicker Mark LeCras returns after missing the past two weeks with a calf issue in place of youngster Simon Tunbridge.
"It helps our balance a little bit," Simpson said.
"We've been light on numbers of blokes that have been available. This is the first time in a few weeks that we've had a guy come back into the side.
"So that's exciting that we have an A-grader coming back in."
The Eagles have won their past three matches against Melbourne by an average of 98 points and the Demons have not beaten West Coast at Patersons Stadium since 2002.
But Simpson is fearful of what Melbourne might do this week given all the criticism the beleaguered club has copped following its 64-point loss to Greater Western Sydney last Sunday.
"It's something that I'm really wary of with our group and with the club," Simpson said.
"We've all been at clubs and in situations where your back is against the wall.
"They came over on Wednesday on their own. So I get the sense there's a bit of a line in the sand type of feel about it.
"So we're really preparing for a tough battle. It's not going to be a walk in the park."
