Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna wants his team to follow in the footsteps of West Coast and become an AFL powerhouse in the coming years.

The Eagles went from the wooden spoon in 2010 to preliminary finalists 12 months later, and are right in the hunt for the premiership this year.

Gold Coast won three games in their debut year last season, but currently sit dead last on the table with no wins to show from 12 games.

McKenna, whose 267-game playing career was spent at the Eagles, wants his charges to start winning respect from their AFL peers.

And he said they had to look no further than West Coast for inspiration.

“Look at West Coast’s evolution with Woosha (Eagles coach John Worsfold),” McKenna said ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Eagles in Perth.

“They were wooden spooners two or three years ago and the last two years they’ve been in the top six.

“You can lose some respect but you can also gain some respect as well. That’s what we need to do in such a small time in the AFL.”

McKenna believed his group would develop quickly once they gained more experience.

“I look at the group now and look at someone like (Eagles midfielder) Scotty Selwood, who has now played 80-odd games,” McKenna said.

“Would I love Harley Bennell to have played 80 games, Zac Smith to have 80 games, Trent McKenzie 80 games?

“I just can’t wait for our group to get 50 games together and some of our individuals to play 60 or 70 games. Judge us then.

“The expectations from year one to year two have been based on sides that have been around hundreds of years.

“We’ve been around for 35 games so it’s important we just settle down and be patient but when we go out there, earn respect by competing hard.”

Gold Coast were impressive when they played West Coast in Perth last year, pushing the Eagles all the way before losing by 18 points.

Despite that competitive outing, bookmakers have written off the Suns’ chances this weekend – not that McKenna cares all that much.

“Bookmakers are bookmakers, they can put margins and lines on games and it really means nothing to us,” McKenna said.

“All I do know is that’s it’s a two-horse game.”

The Eagles have included small forward Murray Newman for his AFL debut, while the Suns made four injury-forced changes, bringing in Jarrod Harbrow, Charlie Dixon, Matt Shaw and Steven May for Luke Russell (hamstring), Rory Thompson (ankle), Michael Rischitelli (hamstring) and Seb Tape (knee).