West Coast midfield general Matt Priddis believes Chris Masten will finally establish himself as an A-Grade midfielder for the Eagles in 2012.
Masten was the club's No.3 draft pick in 2007, a selection the Eagles received in exchange for premiership skipper Chris Judd, along with a young Josh Kennedy.
But despite promising much over his first four years at the club, a series of cruel long-term injury blows has meant 22-year-old Masten has never quite established himself in the Eagles' line-up.
Masten only managed 13 matches for West Coast last year with an average of 14.6 possessions - although in some of these games he was subbed on and off - but Priddis believes his promising late-season form has given the midfielder extra confidence heading into this pre-season.
"I think Chris Masten is leading the way on the training track at the moment," Priddis said in a video interview on the club's official site.
"He's another one, I think, who can really step up this year and use his speed and fitness on the outside."
"He's got great skills and I think it's a year really for him to break out."
West Coast, though, may need to rely on Masten more than usual during the season's early stages as they're ability to break away from stoppages will be limited by the absence of veteran Andrew Embley, who suffered a partial shoulder dislocation last week.
Rapid ball movement in space also appears to be one of the key elements the Eagles have worked on as they look to go further than last year's preliminary final appearance in 2012.
"There's a lot of motivation and hunger for us to go on and have finals success," said Priddis.
"(But) our style of play will be pretty similar with a few small adjustments."
"I'd really like to add my outside game," the 108-game veteran added.
"Whether that's kicking more goals, but also winning a bit more footy in space."
"So that's something we're addressing as a whole playing group ... (the) spread from stoppage."
"We're pretty lucky to have Dean (Cox) and Nic (Naitanui), who give us first use, we're pretty strong in that area of our game, so if we can get that spread from stoppage and get fast ball movement into our forwards then we're going to be a much better team."
"But I think there's definitely plenty of room for improvement in this playing group."