WAtoday suggested last week the Eagles were looking at using Darling as trade bait to lure a quality midfielder to the club.

The Eagles have always said Darling would not be traded, but WAtoday understands the 24-year-old's recent player review with Adam Simpson could have changed that, with the club open to trading him for the right price.

One of the theories doing the rounds was the Eagles would offer Darling to Essendon - reuniting him with his first AFL coach John Worsfold - along with their first round pick (12) for the Bombers' plumb number one pick.

Given the potential midfield talent in the upcoming AFL National Draft and the lack of depth running through the middle for the Eagles, it almost seemed like a plausible move to offload Darling.

But West Coast general manager Craig Vozzo on Tuesday quashed any talk of trading Darling.

"He is a critical part of our list and his best footy is ahead of him... obviously they are focusing on a couple of events over the past couple of years," he told TAB Radio on Tuesday.

"On the whole Jack has been a very important part of our team. It's very difficult to get 50-goal forwards at his age and I think he is growing.

"His best footy is ahead of him. He'll be part of our club for a very long time, we hope."

The "events" Vozzo is referring to is undoubtedly Darling  "pulling out" of a mark in the last quarter against the Western Bulldogs in the first week of the finals with Doggies youngster Josh Dunkley bearing down on him.

And his grand final performance against the Hawks in 2015 was a nightmare.

His tendency to go missing in big games was the reason prominent football expert and Radio 6PR caller Brad Hardie said last month Darling "had to go".

"He can blame the sun and lights all he likes but the fact is that he dropped a sitter on grand final day last year when he took the eyes off the task at hand and he did the same thing against the Dogs going back with the flight of the ball," he said.

"For mine, Darling is trade bait. His supporters will say he kicked 44 goals this season and has two other 40-plus years, including 53 goals in 2012. They will tell you he's still only 24 years old. Well, so what?"

Vozzo said the club still hadn't ruled out trying to get Dockers forward Hayden Ballantyne to West Coast next season.

The 29-year-old had been been linked to Essendon and even cross-town rivals West Coast, but the Dockers said on Monday it was confident he would see out his final year of his contract.

"Whether he [Ballantyne] finds his way to our club, who knows but at this stage, but the priority is with the tall," Vozzo said of the Eagles' need for ruckmen.

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