WEST Coast will be aiming high this season despite a summer of curveballs, with coach Adam Simpson hopeful 2021 will represent a low watermark to now build from rather than the start of a decline. 

The Eagles missed the finals last season for the first time in seven years, ending the AFL's longest streak of post-season appearances after losing seven of their last nine games. 

The pre-season retirement of All-Australian Brad Sheppard and the indefinite absence of star forward Jack Darling have been unwanted summer setbacks, but the club is not using them to dial back its ambitions this year. 

Simpson said the team had worked on its unity and spirit after an off-season review, and 2022 would be about presenting their best version rather than moving to a list transition. 

"We've seen success, we know what it looks like, we know what it feels like," the 2018 premiership coach told AFL.com.au. 

"There's good energy amongst the group, there's excitement amongst the group, and they've really embraced a couple of the new concepts we’ve introduced and the new coaches. 

"Unity is strong and there's good spirit, but that doesn't mean we're going to win 18 games this year. 

"We're setting ourselves up to be our best version and that's the good part about this pre-season."

With a talented but ageing top-end group, there has been a sense that the Eagles would need to go down to eventually come back up and reach the heights of their 2018 premiership season again.  

Luke Shuey, Nic Naitanui, Shannon Hurn, Josh Kennedy and Jack Redden will all start the season aged over 30 but remain important players in the Eagles' best team.  

Simpson said regeneration was an interesting conversation, but he didn't have the answer for if or when that would need to happen.  

"I wouldn't mind staying and going back up as the plan," the coach said.  

"But there's reality as well. Where does your list sit, what's the age profile, what's the dynamic of it all? We're still aiming pretty high.

"Youth versus the elder statesmen, it's probably who's going best at the time. But we do have an eye on the development of our kids as well."

Part of West Coast's end of season review in 2021 had an off-field focus, looking at unity, spirit and love of the game.

They're elements that Simpson knows are important to success and he suspected they needed attention after the club's slide down the ladder in the last two months of the season. 

"When you're in that position, and for the wide range of reasons that happened, you have to dig a bit deeper than what's happened on-field. You have to look off-field as well," he said.  

"The fresh ideas, the new coaches, trying to create a better environment if we can, all those things go into the melting pot, so there's been a few tweaks with off-field focuses.

"You are who you are (as a team), and you have a few focus points that you don't want to reveal … (but) there's definitely a sense of a good spirit."

The new coaches at West Coast are former Port Adelaide assistant Jarrad Schofield and ex-Geelong midfield coach Matthew Knights, while Daniel Pratt has returned from the AFLW program to take over the backline. 

The coaching group went away during the pre-season to work on evolving the game plan, bringing fresh ideas that have been evident in the Eagles' pre-season program, which has seen players moving the ball quick, using the corridor frequently, and kicking long inside 50. 

"It just opened our eyes on a lot of things that we probably hadn't explored. In my time here we've probably built our own in terms of coaches," Simpson said. 

"To get a couple of experienced guys from other clubs brought some fresh ideas and a different outlook on our list and style of play, so a lot of the ideas came from those guys."

Simpson was understandably tight-lipped on the exact changes fans can expect to see from West Coast but said the players had embraced the tweaks and concepts that had been introduced and were making them their own. 

It would not be a game style that relied on talent, conceding there were multiple games in 2021 where individual brilliance got the team out of trouble, rather than a robust game style. 

One of those games came against Adelaide in round nine when Darling monstered the Crows to boot three goals in four memorable minutes, and a total of five in the second quarter alone to turn the game. 

The absence of Darling as the Eagles prepare for pre-season practice matches has the potential to be unsettling, but Simpson said it had not changed his team's training focus and ability to stay on task. 

With the premiership forward so far refusing to meet the AFL's COVID protocols, Simpson said his approach now is to "be patient and have understanding". 

What it has done, when combined with lighter post-Christmas programs for several senior stars, is give the Eagles an opportunity to elevate several young players in match simulation.   

With uncertainty around how COVID-19 will impact the season and availability, the coach said building depth and doing everything possible to maximise availability had been a key focus. 

Whether those young players take the reins this season is probably not a question that can be answered now, and in fairness to Simpson it doesn't need to be. 

The Eagles have the motivation to aim high right now and time to pivot if the season demands it.   

Entering his ninth year as senior coach, Simpson said it had been an enjoyable pre-season spent embracing new ideas and giving his assistants "space to coach and not trying to overdo it too much". 

He's focused on getting more face time with his players and is now excited to see what the team can produce.  

"The exciting part for where we're at is quite often we've tried to replicate the same drills, the same standards, the same programs," the 45-year-old said.  

"But we've changed things, and change is as good as a holiday. We'll see what that produces in a few weeks."