West Coast coach John Worsfold has flatly denied the Eagles were involved in any form of tanking last year, saying he did his best to develop players without compromising the AFL club's chances of winning.

The Eagles' paltry four wins last year allowed them to snare star forward Jack Darling through their priority pick (No.26) in the 2010 national draft.

The issue of tanking for priority draft picks raised its ugly head again this week when sacked Melbourne coach Dean Bailey effectively admitted to the practice during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

Worsfold admitted he used last year's doomed wooden spoon campaign to develop young and fringe players on his list.

But unlike the situation at Melbourne, the Eagles were ravaged by injuries at the time and had little choice but to turn to their depth players.

Worsfold credited fifth-placed West Coast's rapid climb up the ladder this year to last season's focus on development, but said the tactic shouldn't be confused with tanking.

"My selection and playing philosophy last year was (to) build this team up to be able to challenge to become a very good team as quickly as possible," Worsfold said on Wednesday.

"Definitely (the focus was on 2011), and years to come ... building the side to challenge for a premiership.

"My opinion (last year) was ... we already had good enough talent on our list (to ensure) that it was going to progress forward and it was about progressing that talent without worrying about future talent at that time, other than obviously knowing that with the way our season was panning out we were going to have an early pick ... in a diluted draft.

"I don't think (my focus on development cost us any wins), no."

Worsfold said the thought of securing a priority pick by winning less than five games played no part in his thinking last year.

"It's funny because everyone's saying how good the Jack Darling (priority) pick was," Worsfold said.

"But if you remember back ... about this time last year, people were saying 'sucked in West Coast, you're going get a priority pick in a year where it's worth nothing because Gold Coast have already pilfered the first 12 17-year-olds and then they've got all these picks and yours is at the end of the first round and it's pick 26'.

"So they were saying 'it's the worst year of all time to finish down the bottom of the ladder and get a priority pick'.

"But in hindsight now, because it was Jack Darling and he's performing well, everyone's saying 'what a great pick'.

"So we're not that good (like) Nostradamus at predicting all those outcomes, other than saying we played our players in position for them to develop last year at the best possible rate to help us get to where we are this year."

Meanwhile, Worsfold declared Daniel Kerr a good chance to take on Richmond at Patersons Stadium on Sunday after recovering from a series of sore spots, while ruckman Nic Naitanui (soreness) is also on track to return.

Vice-captain Beau Waters (elbow) must pass a fitness test this week in order to take his place, but forward Josh Kennedy has already been ruled out due to his eye injury.

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