WEST Coast premiership ruckman Dean Cox has set his sights on earning a new contract at the end of next year and playing up to four more seasons of good football with the Eagles. However, the 29-year-old, who will play his 200th game this Saturday night against Port Adelaide, said he was not concerned about missing the club’s next premiership tilt.

Speculation has slowly built that Cox will figure in trade discussions this year after an injury-hampered season that the ruckman concedes has been disappointing.

But the four-time All-Australian said he was committed to playing out his career with the Eagles and helping develop the club’s younger players.

“I still think I’ve got three or four years of good football ahead of me and the club know that as well,” Cox said from Subiaco Oval on Thursday. “If body permits and my form warrants it I’ll get another contract at the end of next year.

“I just can’t wait to finish the year, sit down with the match committee and start pre-season. Then the trade week finishes and beautiful, everyone will realise, ‘He wasn’t leaving’.

“I’m just excited to help Nic (Naitanui) and some young kids develop their games so they can play in what I played a part of.

“If I can shape it and I don’t play in one, well so be it, I’ll be the first person on a plane to watch it.”

Cox, who graduated from the Eagles’ rookie list in 2000 to play a crucial role in the 2006 premiership side, will become the 14th Eagle to play 200 games on Saturday night when West Coast travels to AAMI Stadium to face Port Adelaide.

After winning the club’s best and fairest award in 2008, Cox’s 2009 season was cut short by a persistent groin injury and he said post-season surgery had restricted his preparations for 2010 and contributed to a disappointing year.

“The way the injury was it was always going to flare up at times and that has stopped me from training throughout weeks," he said.

“That’s what I’m most disappointed at, that I missed a good couple of months of the pre-season, but I can’t get that back now.

“I’m just looking forward to playing a good, solid last three games and then having a real impact come pre-season.”

Cox said he was proud and honoured to notch up 200 games with the Eagles and he thanked the club for giving him an opportunity as a raw teenager from Dampier in north-west WA.

Cox was the game’s premier ruckman between 2005-09 with his ability to win high possessions around the ground, effectively becoming an extra midfielder, revolutionising ruck work.

“My initial thought on the whole process was once you’re a ruckman you’re not only there just for the hit-outs or the clearance work, how can you help your team after that’s finished?” he said.

“[I’d] try and generate some possessions and try and be a link-up player throughout when the ball’s not around a congested situation.

“To do that I had to put a lot of hard pre-seasons in, but when I first got to the footy club there was an amazing array of players and past players that I idolised when I was growing up that set a tremendous work ethic.

“I worked hard to do it and got some benefits with a premiership along the way.”