On Monday the powerful local sea breeze made its presence felt. On Tuesday persistent rain fell, but none of that has done anything to dampen the enthusiasm of Esperance locals who have welcomed the West Coast Eagles warmly for the community camp in the country town in WA’s deep south.

And the club has responded in kind.

After a civic reception welcoming the club to town at lunch time on Monday, a series of events have been well attended and greeted with great excitement.

A series of forums for local coaches and administrators were extremely popular on Monday evening while on Tuesday night a panel show attracted close to 300 people.

Esperance is a strong West Coast Eagles town and that was never more evident than at schools which were visited in the region on Tuesday. Children of all ages enjoyed the chance to rub shoulders with their heroes.

While rain forced scheduled coaching clinics to become class room question and answer sessions, the players and kids all enjoyed the interaction.

While most sessions were cancelled, there was one clinic conducted at the indoor sports centre while, as the weather cleared late in the day, one lucky group enjoyed the opportunity at Ports Oval.

That ground will also be the venue for a major training session on Wednesday which is expected to attract several thousands fans, with the training run to be followed by a massive signing session and community barbeque.