Cooper Simpson

Cooper Simpson (born 13 February 2005) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Cooper Simpson
Personal information
Full name	Cooper Simpson
Born	(2005-02-13) 13 February 2005 (age 20)
Original team	Dandenong Stingrays (TAC Cup)
Draft	No. 35, 2023 National draft, Fremantle
Height	182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	79 kg (174 lb)
Position	Midfielder/Defender
Club information
Current club	Fremantle
Number	29
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
2024–	Fremantle	5 (1)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2025 season.
Career highlights
WAFL premiership player: 2024
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Early life and career

Originally from Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsula, Simpson was drafted by Fremantle with the 35th selection in the 2023 AFL draft from the Dandenong Stingrays in the Talent League, where he was a co-captain. After winning the Stingray's best and fairest award as a 17-year-old in 2022,^[1] his 2023 season was initially affected by glandular fever and then again when he suffered a bad cork in his leg in his opening game for Victoria Country at the 2023 AFL National Under 18 Championships.^[2]

AFL career

2024–2025: Early career

Simpson made his AFL debut for Fremantle in round 7 of the 2024 AFL season at Perth Stadium against the Western Bulldogs.^[3] Simpson started as the substitute but came into the game after quarter time for teammate Josh Draper, who suffered a hamstring injury.^[4] Simpson maintained his spot for the following week's clash versus Richmond, this time making the starting 22. Simpson was replaced by Sam Switkowski ahead of Round 9 and didn't return to the AFL line up for the rest of the season.

Simpson played his first game of 2025 for the senior team in Round 9 having 18 disposals. This resulted in him retaining his spot for the following week's clash against the Greater Western Sydney Giants where he kicked his first AFL goal and continued his good form collecting 14 disposals.^[5] Unfortunately, 8 minutes into the match next week Simpson suffered an AC joint injury. This caused Simpson to be sidelined for 2 months and turned out to be his final appearance in purple for the year.^[6]

Statistics

AFL Statistics

Updated to the end of the 2025 season.^[7]

Legend

G	Goals	K	Kicks	D	Disposals	T	Tackles
B	Behinds	H	Handballs	M	Marks

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
2024	Fremantle	29	2	0	0	8	3	11	4	2	0.0	0.0	4.0	1.5	5.5	2.0	1.0
2025	Fremantle	29	3	1	0	22	10	32	8	3	0.3	0.0	7.3	3.3	10.7	2.7	1.0
Career			5	1	0	30	13	43	12	5	0.2	0.0	6.0	2.6	8.6	2.4	1.0

WAFL Statistics

Updated to the end of the 2025 season.^[8]

Legend

G	Goals	K	Kicks	D	Disposals	T	Tackles
B	Behinds	H	Handballs	M	Marks

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
2024	Peel Thunder	15/32/35	18	16	12	109	72	181	35	69	0.9	0.7	6.1	4.0	10.1	1.9	3.8
2025	Peel Thunder	29/41/88	10	0	2	137	52	189	33	16	0.0	0.2	13.7	5.2	18.9	3.3	1.6
Career			28	16	14	245	124	369	68	83	0.6	0.5	8.8	4.4	13.2	2.4	3.0