WEST Coast coach John Worsfold has defended the right of clubs to experiment with their players in different positions once their chances of making the finals are over, dismissing suggestions that it is tanking. 

Tanking to secure priority draft picks has become a talking point again following sacked Melbourne coach Dean Bailey's admission on Monday that he "had no hesitation at all in the first two years (of his contract) in ensuring the club was well placed for draft picks".

Bailey played his players in unfamiliar positions, most notably in a round-18 match against Richmond in 2009, prompting suggestions that the club deliberately lost to secure priority draft picks. 

But Worsfold said his club, which recruited impressive forward Jack Darling with its own priority draft pick (No.26 overall) last year, had experimented with players' positions as a development tool, not to deliberately lose games.

The Eagles won just four games last year, collecting their first ever wooden spoon.

"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.

"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.

"That would have been in a part (a reason for) our improved performance this year, the fact that we did actually play players to be ready for this year.

"(There was always) a focus on this year, next year and the year after, building the side to challenge for a premiership."

Darling has had a big impact on West Coast's dramatic rise up the ladder this year, playing all 17 matches and kicking 15 goals in his debut season.

But Worsfold said the team had not deliberately lost games last year to secure the talented forward.

"Everyone's saying how good the Jack Darling pick was," Worsfold said. "But 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'.

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

"In hindsight now, because it was Jack Darling and he's performing well, everyone's saying, 'What a great pick'. We're not that good, Nostradamus, at predicting all those outcomes.

"People even said our pick four last year really was a diluted pick because the draft had already been hit hard by the Gold Coast's signing of 17-year-olds the previous year and their first three picks.

"We didn't complain, we didn't whinge about the fact we weren't getting pick one last year. We dealt with what we had in front of us."

Nathan Schmook covers West Coast news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_NSchmook