Luke Shuey was not even born when Ross Glendinning led the West Coast Eagles onto Subiaco Oval for their first match in the AFL against Richmond on March, 19 1987. Shuey was minus three years and three months.

He was all of 544 days old when West Coast won their first premiership in 1992.

On Sunday, when the Eagles open the 2020 season against Melbourne at Optus Stadium, the now 29-year-old 201-game midfielder will become the 11^th official captain of the club.

He will be 294 days beyond his 29^th birthday and the fourth-oldest and third most experienced player to take the reins in his own right.

Only Dean Kemp (32/57), Glendinning (30/193) and Guy McKenna (29/321) have been older in the first game in the job. And only Kemp and McKenna, both with 235 games behind them, had played more games before officially taking over the reins.

At the other end of the scale, John Worsfold (22/180), Chris Judd (22/203) and Ben Cousins (22/275) were the youngest players to lead the club in their own right.

Steve Malaxos, who had played just 53 AFL games and 34 Eagles games before taking charge in 1990, was technically the least experienced but he had enjoyed a distinguished career with Claremont in the WAFL before joining Hawthorn in 1987.

Similarly Murray Rance, Eagles captain in 1989, had played only 62 AFL games and 32 Eagles games but had been a standout WAFL player with Swan Districts.

Shuey also will be the eighth player to play only for the Eagles before assuming the top job after Glendinning, Murray Rance and Steve Malaxos played elsewhere.

Officially, Worsfold has captained West Coast in most games at 138, followed by Darren Glass (129), Shannon Hurn (120) and Cousins (104).