There’s a curious thing in elite football, an expectation that young men should immediately adjust to the public glare and everything that goes with it.

That they should seamlessly handle playing in front of thousands when six months earlier it was little more than family and friends – plus a few recruiters – circling the boundary at community ovals.

That they should be eloquent and natural before the blinding lights and cameras of a media conference. That they are somehow different to other teenagers living a ‘normal’ existence in the suburban house next door.

Put a guernsey on their backs, send them out there and wait for the heroics. Some are born for it, they relish every moment of it, while most take longer to adjust.

For all of them, though, it is a constant education. Each week they learn a little bit more about the nuances of the game, a little more about what it takes to be the best version of themselves.

Currently the West Coast Eagles are in the middle of a build. A young list, many of whom are in the embryonic stages of their careers, banking experiences. Another of the building blocks will be set in place when they play in today’s RAC Derby against Fremantle.

The Eagles are enduring a period when beating the Dockers has been challenging. Our cross-town rivals have won the last five encounters, having stopped a run of 11 successive victories by West Coast in 2021.

Winning sequences in this battle for local bragging rights is something of a pattern. A pattern that will inevitably be broken, it’s just a matter of when.

History in this rivalry has a habit of repeating itself and we cast back 15 years or so there are some similarities between where our team sits now and where the club was at around 2008.

As is the case now, the club was coming off a relatively recent premiership triumph (2006). At that time there was some serious concerns around player behaviour but from 2008 to 2010, when the club was handed its first wooden spoon, Fremantle went on a six game run in derbies.

When that sequence began Shannon Hurn, who would become our 2018 premiership captain, had played just 30 games, future Brownlow medallist Matt Priddis was just 26 matches into his budding career, Will Schofield had racked up just three games at the elite level.

Mark LeCras had played 25 games and additionally Scott Selwood, who would later win a Club Champion mantle, was in his debut season playing first senior match in the round three derby.

Over the next couple of seasons Luke Shuey, Nic Naitanui, Brad Sheppard, Jack Darling and Andrew Gaff emerged at the club.

With the exceptions of Gaff and Darling, who remain on the list, the others carved out glittering careers and have come and gone after giving Eagles fans some unforgettable memories.

It’s impossible to crystal ball the futures of the developing players on the current list, but certainly there seems to be some exciting long-term prospects in their ranks.

There is no suggestion that Brady Hough will mirror the career of Hurn, but he has been impressive in his first 35 games; Campbell Chesser, Rhett Bazzo, Jai Culley, Luke Edwards, Reuben Ginbey, Elijah Hewett, Noah Long, Ryan Maric, Harley Reid and Jack Williams have all played 30 games or fewer.

In addition Clay Hall, Harvey Johnston, Archer Reid, Loch Rawlinson (one game), Harry Barnett (two games) Coen Livingstone, Tyrell Dewar and Jordan Baker are in the formative stages of their careers.

Statistics will tell you that they will not all impact the AFL in the same manner as their predecessors, but there are some gems in the group.

Hough, Ginbey, Harley Reid, Chesser, Long and Jack Williams will all play tomorrow evening. They will strut their stuff in front of more than 50,000 people. Several of those youngsters have been exposed to crowds of that volume previously, for others it will be novel.

Hopefully they get used to it because when this club is truly up and about crowds of that magnitude are commonplace.