It will happen. That's the new politician-style phrase being trotted out by West Coast coach John Worsfold in his latest bid to appease the growing concerns of disgruntled Eagles fans.

But the only thing 'happening' at West Coast is the engraving of their name on the wooden spoon after Saturday night's heartbreaking five-point loss to fellow AFL strugglers Brisbane left them two wins adrift of 15th spot.

Jonathan Brown's final-minute winner was like a dagger to the heart of West Coast - a proud club with a rich history.

But despite the doom and gloom of 2010, Worsfold, who captained the club to two premierships during his glittering 209-game playing career, remains convinced a successful era awaits his fledgling outfit.

"I've been through some real tough times with this footy club but I've always had the belief the club knows how to come out of it and knows the pathways to take, and it feels no different," Worsfold said.

"I know success is coming and it's building pretty strongly within the group.

"It will happen, there's no doubt about that happening, that we'll be better next year and a lot better the year after that, and we'll probably keep getting better for the next six or seven years with the squad we've got.

"We're going to become a very strong group over a period of time.

"(Nic) Naitanui playing with Scott Selwood ... for the next 10 years those guys are going to see some great success together but they'll have to work hard to get it, it's not just going to happen.

"But it will happen."

Worsfold has no doubt the club has taken the right path in its bid to win a fourth premiership in the near future.

"People can judge it, some people will just judge it on ladder position, and that's a reasonable thing to judge teams on," he said.

"But our view is we don't want our supporters waiting 40, 30, 20 years for another premiership like a lot of supporters are out there waiting for.

"We're pretty keen to build one a lot quicker than that.

"And that takes a bit of pain and brave moves but we'll stick to it and hopefully it will happen for us.

"There will be a lot of criticism of our group but we're prepared to wear that because together we're going to do the work to grow to where we want to get to.

"We need another 12 months of experience into this group before they're going to match most teams, before they match really any teams for experience, but they'll get that next year."

In fairness to West Coast, a string of serious injuries have crippled their attempts to be competitive this year.

Missing from Saturday night's line-up were top-liners Darren Glass (groin), Daniel Kerr (hamstring), Shannon Hurn (hamstring), Chris Masten (ankle), Beau Waters (illness) and Adam Selwood (shoulder).

Others such as Ashley Hansen (hip), Eric Mackenzie (suspended), Ashton Hams (suspended), Sam Butler (ankle) and Mark Nicoski (shoulder) were also missing, leaving West Coast to field just three players with 100-plus games to their name.

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