Picture this. It’s mid March, you’re immersed in the pre-season at Claremont where you’re captain.

It’s a place as comfortable as a pair of old slippers. Everyone knows who you are; you’ve got your own car park.

For Declan Mountford it’s humming along normally and then out of the blue there’s a call from the West Coast Eagles recruiting staff. Something about a Covid contingency list?

He’d heard whispers about it but had taken only a passing interest. Suddenly there is a draft and he’s on the Eagles contingency list; essentially a loan player for the year.

‘Ah well, that’s nice, but probably won’t amount to much.’

Two weeks later he’s training with the team and then is named as an emergency for the first game of the AFL season. A week after that he’s travelling to Melbourne for round two against his former club, North Melbourne.

Again an emergency it seems he will be watching from a suite at Marvel Stadium when a club staffer chases him up to level three. Jackson Nelson has been injured in the warm-up and he’s playing.

The journey of Mountford to his second AFL opportunity could not have been more….um, unusual. Certainly unique.

Against the Roos there were five club debutants with listed youngsters Callum Jamieson and Jack Williams elevated to play senior footy for the first time and Covid contingency players Aaron Black, Angus Dewar, Mountford and Stefan Gyro also representing the club for the first time.

And midfielder Brayden Ainsworth returned to reacquaint himself with his former teammates.

It was a remarkable situation and the team was brave in defeat.

The players from the Covid contingency list have been wholly committed to the program and have been warmly embraced by their new new teammates.

That team to play North required a hitherto never before seen overhaul from a team that played Gold Coast in round one without many of its stars.

While it was an honourable defeat, that categorisation of a performance does not sit well at the club.

In 35 years of competition the West Coast Eagles have entered every game with the expectation of victory.

Already this season that objective has been compromised to a large extent with the need for many players to enter AFL health and safety protocols, but the target is always to win.

Honourable losses are not in the DNA.

Clearly  it is tougher to win on some weeks than others and that was the situation against North Melbourne last week when the club was forced to make 14 changes. That’s still difficult to get the head around.

For tomorrow’s RAC Derby there will be even more wholesale changes.

But the club was aware of the possibilities of COVID intervention and was diligent in selecting its contingency list from WAFL ranks.

Those who have either trained or played have been totally immersed in the program; have fast-tracked their integration and have been critical to maintaining unity.

The inner sanctum at the club has been buzzing in the last month with the excitement those ‘top up’ players have generated.

That is why there is optimism around tomorrow’s derby. There is great confidence that any of those players who are elevated will seamlessly play their role for the team.

They have already developed a strong bond and trust. To see it has been enlightening during an extremely challenging time.