The AFL's new boss of football performance, Greg Swann, has offered his view on the concept of West Coast receiving a priority draft pick as early as this year.
With one win from 18 games to start Andrew McQualter's tenure with the Perth powerhouse, the Eagles have seen little improvement while blooding both experienced and emerging talent.
Their contest resulted in a 49-point defeat to a 17th-placed Richmond outfit at Optus Stadium, a performance that compounded the frustration at West Coast.
The Eagles have been hit with adversity on the injury front this year however, losing Jeremy McGovern (concussion) and Dom Sheed (knee) to retirement, while Elliot Yeo (ankle) might not play a game this year.
Swann, speaking on his first day at AFL House, offered some sympathy for the Eagles, with Swann having seen the difficult years that preceded the Lions' recent rise to premiership contention, and success.
"I've been there. When we started off at Brisbane, we weren't very good either. It's difficult. But it's a process," he said.
"They've gone down a path now where they've got a fairly young team, but they've also had a lot of injuries as well.
"They're struggling, there's no doubt about that. But that's something that we'll have a talk about."
Brisbane were the first club to receive a priority pick under altered rules for AFL clubs, with the Lions pocketing a single selection that fell at the end of the first round of the draft in 2016.
Gold Coast received an assistance package ahead of the 2019 AFL Draft that helped secure the Queensland club access to Matt Rowell, and use their opening selection for Noah Anderson, with the duo going first and second overall, respectively, in that draft.
The Suns were also handed three more selections as part of the package, including a mid-first-round selection for 2020, and two more picks in the top 21 across multiple other drafts.
The AFL will factor in a club's premiership points tally and percentage over a certain period, as well as injury rates, when weighing up draft pick concessions.
