Josh Simpson Biography

Josh Simpson has been delisted by Fremantle, bringing to an end a turbulent two years in the AFL system for the first-round draft pick.

"We have provided Josh with significant support and resources, including a personal development program which was carefully put together to assist him in dealing with personal and professional matters he faced away from football," Fremantle football operations manager Chris Bond said.

"The personal development program included guidelines and protocols that Josh was required to strictly adhere to. Unfortunately, Josh was not able to consistently fulfil those requirements since undertaking the program in June.

"Josh's inability to consistently fulfil those requirements and, over a period of time, achieve the personal and professional levels required by the club to succeed as a player at the elite level, has resulted in the very difficult decision to delist him."

Josh Simpson will take an indefinite leave of absence from football, effective immediately.

The Dockers announced on their website on Wednesday afternoon that Simpson is set to undertake a personal development program designed to address both personal and professional matters outside of football.

The program outlined for the 20-year-old includes guidelines and protocols that he must strictly adhere to. It will be overseen by the club with input from the AFL Players' Association and Simpson's management, as well as external counsellors and experts.

Simpson will not train or play at any level while undertaking the program, and there is no timeframe given for his leave of absence.

"Although Josh has been endeavouring to deal with some personal and professional matters, he has not been able to consistently demonstrate the behaviour required of a player at this club," Fremantle's general manager of football operations Chris Bond said.

"We believe that it is in Josh's best interests – both personal and professional – that his strong focus be on undertaking and successfully completing the program rather than meeting playing or training commitments during this time.

"Consequently, Josh will not train or play with the club during his leave of absence but instead focus on his personal development program and benefit from the structure, supervision and support it is designed to provide."

Michael Walters has urged Fremantle teammate Josh Simpson to make the most of his AFL dream, saying the troubled midfielder can use football to help set up a good life for his young family.

Simpson is still serving his penance in the WAFL after refusing to fly to Sydney as an emergency for the Dockers' round-five clash with the Swans.

The 20-year-old, who was selected with pick No.17 in the 2012 NAB AFL Draft, had previously gone into the bad books for inconsistent efforts at training.

"He's the type of kid that does work hard when he wants to but it's the sort of thing where he has to do it multiple times, rather than just for a week or two," Walters said about Simpson.

"With Josh, he needs the tough love.

"But then again he's only young. You have got to sort of massage it in and the sooner he learns the rigours of AFL, the better we are going to be as a team because he's a good player with extreme talent."

Following Josh Simpson's recent refusal to join the Dockers' flight to Sydney as a traveling emergency, Luke McPharlin says there are no culture issues at the club.

"We believe our culture is very strong, and has been for a number of years now," McPharlin said.

"We've had a couple of incidents early in the season that we wish didn't happen. But this is part and parcel of trying to organise and manage 40 players from different walks of lives.

"For the great majority of our playing group, it's a very strong brand and culture. Unfortunately some players fall by the wayside, but we deal with them internally."

The future of troubled Fremantle youngster Josh Simpson should be clearer by the end of the week as the club continues talks with the player's management.

"The club has advised Josh Simpson and his management that we will be having ongoing discussions throughout the week with regards to the issues at hand," general manager of football operations Chris Bond said.

"Until those discussions have been finalised, Josh will be on leave from the club."

Fremantle coach Ross Lyon explains the reasons for Josh Simpson failing to make the flight as an emergency during the Dockers' trip to Sydney.

"He'd done enough to be picked but, in this case, clearly Josh was disappointed about being out of the team so he's basically dropped his bundle," Lyon said.

"In previous times, Josh has gone home for cultural reasons and they might be family illnesses, western medicine versus traditional medicine, there's all of that.

"He's also a young father with two children, so there's a lot of pressures there and his background, he hasn't walked out of [prestigious Perth school] Hale with a silver spoon in his mouth.

"He comes from 500 kilometres north-west of Perth and he's been through trying circumstances in his life.

"Therefore we're trying to build a base and nurture and work with Josh and also at times discipline and encourage Josh, to be able to handle the rigours of AFL football.

"He was able to play last week, but even last week there were some cultural issues that saw Josh return to [his home town] Mullewa during the week.

"When you put all that together, it's really trying circumstances for us as a football club.

"Sometimes you're trying to do what the education system, families, mentors, elders and the government can't quite do.

"We're working through all those things with Josh."

The immediate playing future of Fremantle midfielder Josh Simpson is unclear after he withdrew at late notice from the club's party scheduled to fly to Sydney for Saturday's clash with the Swans.

General manager of football operations Chris Bond told Perth radio station 6PR on Friday that Simpson was scheduled to join the team on the trip but "was unable to make the flight and advised us very late".

"From there we're going to just have to work through that with Josh and we'll continue to offer our support and assist as best we can," Bond said.

"There's certainly some upside of Josh as a player. But unfortunately Josh has really been unable to adapt to what's required to be an AFL player, the commitments that are required and ... we just thought the best thing for him at this stage was to step away from playing with Peel as well."

Michael Walters says he wants to put his troubled past behind and to use his experience to mentor younger players such as Josh Simpson.

"I'm just trying to help him because I never really had anyone to help me. I don't want the same thing that happened to me happen to him as well so I'm trying to help him out as much as I can," Walters said about Simpson.

Simpson, from the remote town of Yalgoo, 500km north-east of Perth, was taken by Fremantle with pick No.17 in the 2012 NAB AFL draft.

He suffered from homesickness during his first season at AFL level but did make his debut in round 23 against St Kilda, his only game of the season.

After Simpson battled through the first week of the pre-season, Walters believed the 19-year-old had begun responding to the advice from the senior players.

"There's no doubt he's got all the talent in the world. It's just the hard work component now. I had to find it and now he's starting to find it," Walters said.

Josh Simpson makes his AFL debut for Fremantle at Docklands Stadium with 14 disposals (8 kicks and 6 handballs), 4 marks, a tackle and a goal in a 71-point loss to St Kilda.

Fremantle recruit Josh Simpson says he is excited at the prospect of playing for the Dockers.

"I've supported Fremantle all my life, so right now I'm living a childhood dream," Simpson said.

"We just couldn't go past his talent, his run, his ball-use," Freo's player development manager Brad Lloyd said.

"He's the type of player that his talent comes out pretty quick - he's a very noticeable player. So he produced plenty of special moments over the last couple of years that caught our eye.

"Now it's up to him. He gets an opportunity to use the tools he's got and make an impact."