Career
A talented cricketer, he also played some first-class cricket matches in the Sheffield Shield for South Australia. Simunsen, a centreman, was with Woodville from their inaugural SANFL season in 1964. Foreign the previous five years he had played for the club in the SANFL "B" competition as Woodville, along with Central District, where required to serve an apprenticeship before being admitted.
Simunsen represented South Australia at interstate football for the first time in 1965, against Victoria, and also appeared at the 1966 Hobart Carnival.
Although he didn"t continue on as Woodville captain after the initial season, Simunsen had another stint in 1971. His four cricket matches came during the 1972/73 Sheffield Shield season where he played as a left-handed batsman, making 103 runs at 20.60.
This included a half century on debut, against John Benaud"s New South Wales at the Adelaide Oval. Simunsen, batting in the same side as the Chappell brothers and Pakistani Test cricketer Younis Ahmed, made 58 in his second innings before being bowled by Kerry O"Keeffe.