West Coast coach John Worsfold has rejected speculation his side is 'tanking' for draft picks following last weekend's loss to Essendon.
Seasoned midfielders Chad Fletcher and Michael Braun were left out of the Eagles side to face Essendon last week, and Daniel Kerr was a late withdrawal, leaving West Coast with an inexperienced on-ball department.
It has prompted suggestions the 2006 premier were throwing games in order to secure high draft picks. Western Australian teenager Nicholas Naitanui has been widely touted as this year's No.1 selection in the draft.
Worsfold, however, denied emphatically the club was tanking.
"I don't really care why it was sparked 'cause it's false," he declared on Wednesday. "No one's accused me of it (tanking) and I don't think anyone ever will."
"I just do my job (and) focus on winning."
"I'm not surprised that people want to talk about topical issues or issues that they could get some media coverage on (but) it certainly shouldn't be directed at our football club 'cause we're here to win games and that's our only aim ever."
"It just doesn't happen to our club so it's really no issue to me and if it's happened at other clubs I wouldn't know. I don't think they're going to come and tell me if they're doing it.".
Worsfold said he hadn't really thought about changes to the draft system to avoid talk of tanking, which his Fremantle counterpart, Mark Harvey, described as a 'slur on the game' on Tuesday.
"I haven't thought about it, I've got bigger issues about picking a winning team than worry about something that will take place (the draft) in whatever number of weeks," he said."
"That's up to the AFL (anyway)."
"If they want to change everything they do according to people's perceptions, they're going to be pretty busy. The AFL, from my experience, have made decisions on changing things that are going to be better for the game and I think the game's in good shape."
Earlier on Wednesday, Carlton coach Brett Ratten bought into the tanking debate by declaring he was sick to death of it.
"I think it might be the new fad, I suppose we get to Round 11 or 12 and if you're down in the bottom two or three, watch out because I think this will just happen every year," Ratten said.
"I don’t think it’s a subject that we need to talk about, everyone's out there competing hard."
"If you play kids are you tanking? If you play experienced players, are you tanking? It just goes on and on and on and everyone microscopes everything three-fold."
"I'm sick of the word, sick of it."
The three Eagles players that prompted the debate - Kerr, Braun and Fletcher - are all expected to be fit for the Eagles' clash with ladder-leading Geelong on Saturday night.
Beau Waters will also return to the line-up after serving a two-match suspension for rough conduct, while Ash Hansen's reasonable WAFL form for Swan Districts could see him make the senior team once again.
The inclusions could see Worsfold fielding a side containing 17 members of the 2006 premiership squad.
But Worsfold said their last title meant little for the future.
"I think the number of premiership players doesn't really mean anything because some of our premiership players, like Sam Butler, aren't necessarily adding a lot more experience," he said, referring to the fact an injury plagued Butler has only played two senior matches since that game.
"That title was relating to the 2006 West Coast squad, the 2008 squad is moving forward very strongly and building a team that will be capable of winning a premiership and I'd like to be able to know that that'll be as soon as possible."