Click here to read the full interview with John Worsfold.

The coach’s vision has been queried across the country and led to speculation about his job, despite signing a contract extension last year that takes him through to the end of 2011.

Worsfold laid out his short-term plan for West Coast this week and said the perception that he believes the club will be a favourite for the premiership in two years’ time was wide of the mark. 

“I get quizzed by people saying, ‘You think the club will win a premiership in 2012?’ Well what I’m saying is we want to be in a position to say we’re a challenger,” the coach told afl.com.au.

“In any given year you would say there’s probably four favourites and then two or three challengers.

“A lot of people wonder why and they’ve ridiculed me for saying it, but I don’t think it’s unrealistic to aim to be in the finals in 2012 and beyond.

“If that puts pressure on then so be it, but it doesn’t really change what our focus is here. We’re building towards it, we want to do it, so it’s good to have pretty tough goals to achieve.

“You can only say what you believe and we don’t want to develop to finish 10th for the next five years; we want to be in the eight.”

More than any other group, West Coast’s highly touted young midfielders hold the key to the club’s eventual climb back up the ladder.

Early draft picks like Chris Masten, Luke Shuey, Brad Ebert, Tom Swift and Scott Selwood have received mixed reviews this season, but Worsfold said his faith in the group had not been dented.

He said they would get plenty of opportunities in the second half of the season, but denied their development over the next 12 months would determine his future at the club.

“I don’t want them to play well for my sake, I want them to play well to achieve their potential,” Worsfold said.

“That’s always been my goal as a coach, to help players play finals football and achieve their potential and hopefully taste the ultimate success.
 
“I would hate to think that there is any concern about them reaching their potential quickly because we don’t want to change coaches or the coach is worried about his position. That certainly doesn’t come into it.

“There’s a lot of other factors that are going to dictate who coaches the Eagles long-term over and above their performance this year and maybe next year.”

Worsfold said there had been periods of frustration in his club’s football department this season, but the coaches and staff had remained buoyant and positive for the most part. 

“The players have been down at times because of some bad losses, but we’re trying to make them understand that they will get better; they will improve if they’re prepared to stick at it,” he said.

“We’re all anxious, we want to get this stuff going, but we’re also very mindful of not burning players out as well.

“The long-term view is certainly a lot stronger for us than worrying about trying to scrape extra wins this year to make ourselves look a little bit better.”