West Coast captain Darren Glass has hinted that 2012 may be his last season as the Eagles prepare to mount another assault on the premiership.
Thirty-year-old Glass won his third club championship award last season, along with a third All-Australian, as he led the Eagles on an extraordinary campaign that saw them go all the way from last in 2010 into a preliminary final.
But, despite the future looking particularly rosy for the group under his leadership, Glass appeared to be looking to the future when discussing the upcoming season on Tuesday morning.
"I've always enjoyed my footy, I love it," said Glass at a joint press conference with Perth's domineering Baseball side, the Perth Heat.
"But certainly I'm soaking it all in and appreciating it this time around, it could be my last year."
"I'm not too sure," he added, when specifically asked if he intends to retire come season's end.
"I'll wait and see how I play during the year and how the team's shaping up."
If 2011 is anything to go by, the Eagles could be primed to really challenge for the Premiership once again.
A surprise entrant to the top four, West Coast only narrowly lost their qualifying final to Collingwood in the first week of the finals before edging out Carlton at Patersons Stadium the following week.
However, they saved one of their worst performances of the season for their 48-point loss to Geelong in the preliminary final as the Cats' battle-hardened bodies proved too good for the Eagles' youngsters.
But with another pre-season in the tank and no injuries to speak of so far, West Coast could be primed to take a few more steps come September.
"We've got quite a few guys coming into the peak of their careers like Josh Kennedy, Mark LeCras, so I think there's improvement through quite a bit of the list," said Glass.
"There was a bit of pressure last year, but there's always pressure at AFL level and I think there's a lot of excitement this year."
"The guys know that we can be a good side and they're really excited to play some good footy."
"Obviously we've got the weight of expectation this year, but I think the guys are ready to handle that," he said.