JOHN Worsfold received a standing ovation at the West Coast club champion awards on a night when he was lauded as the club's most significant figure and the club's best and fairest award was named in his honour.

The outgoing Eagles coach spoke from the heart as he addressed the 1100-strong crowd at Crown Perth's Grand Ballroom before later presenting the inaugural John Worsfold medal to Matt Priddis.

Worsfold stood down from the Eagles coaching job in September after 12 years in charge.

The premiership coach says it is the players and the people he will miss the most.

"My sister-in-law just asked me 'who you are you going to miss coaching the most?'" Worsfold said.

"I can't answer that because I miss them all already. I'm jealous of Adam Simpson being up in Broome with them all and getting things going.

"They're champion young men, all of them."

Worsfold said he had learnt many lessons from his time as West Coast coach but he believes the most profound thing he learnt was perspective.

"I used to say to players 'one day, hopefully, when you retire people will say you're a premiership player' and I thought that was really important," Worsfold said.

"But I don't ever think of myself as a premiership player. I think of myself as someone who's been fortunate to have 27 years making friends.

"Because not every player I've played with won a premiership with us. Not every player I've coached has won a premiership yet they’ve all had the same impact on me.

"They’ve all been just a joy to be part of."

Worsfold was humbled by the plethora of players who spoke at the function about the impact he had had on their lives.

"To have the players stand up here tonight and say that they feel as though I've impacted their lives over and above just being their footy coach I feel as though that's been a big part of my responsibility," Worsfold said.