So far in 2011, the turnaround since last year has been remarkable.
While punters were busy penciling in the Eagles for another bottom four finish this season, coach John Worsfold had his hands full rebuilding his young side.
By far the biggest upside to their game is their revamped forward structure, and Sunday's round seven clash against Essendon showed the stark contrast between the Eagles of 2010, and the side we have seen so far this season.
Rewind back to round 16, 2010 - exciting forward Mark LeCras kicked 12 goals for the Eagles on their way to a fourth win for the season.
He finished the year with 63.24, West Coast's leading goalkicker for the second consecutive year.
Behind LeCras on the leaderboard was Josh Kennedy (41), while the next best contributor was Ben McKinley (16), who was eventually traded to North Melbourne at the end of 2010.
With the way the modern game is changing, coaches have realised that the day of relying on one key forward to kick a bag of goals every week is gone.
Tragically we may never see another player kick a ton in a season with Hawthorn's Lance Franklin the last player to do so in 2008.
Even his coach Alastair Clarkson has had to grapple with the fact that his side needs to have a more even spread of goal kickers in order to compete with the best sides in the business.
"He (Franklin) is a very, very dominant character in our forward half and demands a lot of the footy," Clarkson said earlier in the year.
"But if we've just got to rely on Buddy to be our major source of goals then we're in a little bit of trouble.
"The better sides will spread those and we need to do that as well.
"It's not our intention to just have one focal point in our forward half. Sometimes it just pans out that way."
Like Clarkson, Worsfold also subscribes to that theory.
In 2011, no more is LeCras the main man up forward, in fact following his return from a groin injury last week, he has been spending a lot more time in the midfield rather than crumbing goals.
"A lot of our players have come on from our total reliance on LeCras last year," Worsfold said.
"Josh Kennedy is performing really well, [Quinten] Lynch is in a lot better form. [Mark] Nicoski has added something…and we are improving in that area.
"[LeCras] will play a fair bit of time as a dangerous forward but he will be able to go through the midfield as well."
LeCras took a back seat in the game on Sunday with just the two goals, while Kennedy (2.2), Nicoski (two) and Lynch (one) were more of a focal point up forward.
Throw in the likes of rising star Jack Darling and at some stage either Dean Cox or Nic Naitanui and the Eagles' forward line looks an ominous prospect for any back six to take on.
After the Eagles dominated the first quarter with 21 inside 50s to six, Essendon coach James Hird was forced to send Michael Hurley down back to help out Fletcher who was struggling to handle the tall timber.
At present Kennedy is the leading goalkicker at the Eagles with 13, while a rejuvenated Lynch has reaffirmed his spot in the side with nine goals for the year so far.
Mark Nicoski (eight) has been brilliant since Worsfold moved him forward this year, with his forward pressure a standout in attack along with impressive youngster Jack Darling.
Although the Bombers may have claimed the points against West Coast on Sunday, there is much to like about this young Eagles side.
Already they have three wins for the year (remembering they only had four last season) and close losses to the Sydney Swans, Hawthorn and Essendon, should give them great confidence in their game plan and talent going forward.
