When Eagles chief executive Trevor Nisbett spoke to Chris Mainwaring on Friday, September 21, he knew something was not quite right.

Mainwaring had come to the club for a workout - a usual practice for the man who played 201 games for the Eagles - and was as chirpy as ever.

But something was troubling Mainwaring, and he confided in Nisbett about some personal problems he was facing.

Ten days later, Mainwaring was dead.

"When I saw him last Friday I thought he was going great. He was chirpy, he was cheeky, he was at his very best. He was always effervescent and particularly positive," an emotional Nisbett said on Tuesday.

"I guess he's had some concerns over the last couple of months and he's continually tried to get on top of things himself. I don't know everything that's happened in his personal life, (but) we've tried to help him through as much as we can."

"There's a number of people that these guys go to because they are high achievers with whatever they do and when things go wrong in their life sometimes they don't react how they should, and obviously Chris had some underlying problems that everyone was trying to help him with."

"He's always been here around the club. He’s a very close friend to our board members right through to the players. He's been part of the family since he started and nothing's changed. He'll leave a real gap in our lives."

West Coast’s board members will meet on Tuesday night to discuss ways of paying tribute to the loveable 41-year-old. Retiring the No.3 jumper is a possibility, Nisbett said.

"There are some things we'll talk about as a board and as a club because he deserves that. I'm sure we'll be doing things in the future that we think would be appropriate for Chris," he said.

Nisbett, who was the Eagles' football manager during Mainwaring's playing days, paid tribute to the two-time premiership star.

"His ability to run out a game of football was unbelievable," Nisbett said.

"His courage (was sensational). He hurt his knee doing the same thing he had done 50, 60 times before – backing into packs."

"For his size he was an incredible player and admired by everyone because his training was really over the top. He would do so much more than other players to ensure he was the best running player out there."