There is always an expectation that big men take longer to mature and grow into their bodies to be AFL ready

At the West Coast Eagles, the most prominent example of that is games record holder Dean Cox, who came off the rookie list, was nurtured in the WAFL before embarking on a stellar 290-game career.

Tonight, Bailey Williams, who arrived at the club with a chiselled physique, will bely that theory when he will debut in just his second season on the list.

Drafted by the Eagles from the Dandenong Stingrays in Victoria’s NAB League with selection No.35 in the 2018 AFL National Draft, Williams has watched 27 players drafted ahead of him play in the AFL, and, moreover, 51 players drafted after him.

At the top end of the draft, Bailey Smith (Western Bulldogs) has played 36 games, followed by Sam Walsh (Carlton) and Jack Lukosius (Gold Coast) 34, Connor Rozee and Zak Butters (Port Adelaide) and Nick Blakey (Sydney) 32 games.

Rookies Callum Wilkie (St Kilda), Michael Gibbons (Carlton) and Tom Atkins (Geelong) have played 35, 33 and 31 games. Marlon Pickett (Richmond), a mature age recruit from South Fremantle, has been a member of a premiership side.

The 200cm Williams has seen six teammates from the Dandenong side that won the 2018 NAB premiership debut – Sam Sturt (Fremantle), Will Hamill (Adelaide), Zac Foot (Sydney), Toby Bedford (Melbourne), Lachie Young (Bulldogs) and Matthew Cottrell (Carlton).

Williams has proven a quick learner, soaking up the knowledge of training with a ruck division that boasts Nic Naitanui, Tom Hickey, Nathan Vardy and ruck-forward Oscar Allen.

The other specialist ruckmen drafted in 2018 who have played are pick No.65 Darcy Fort (Geelong) and rookie pick No.7 Kieren Strachan (Adelaide). They have played eight games and one game respectively.

The only ruckman drafted ahead of Williams – GWS’ pick No.41 Kieren Briggs – has not played.

The Eagles bid on Briggs, a GWS Academy player, in the draft but the Giants matched it to claim him.

Williams was the Eagles third pick in the 2018 Draft behind No.28 Xavier O’Neill, who debuted last week, and No.31 Luke Foley, who is still awaiting his chance. Jarrod Cameron, the Eagles’ fourth pick at No.39, has played 12 games

Williams, a Dandenong standout in the 2018 NAB League grand final noted for leap and athleticism, won the running vertical jump test at the AFL Draft Combine and was an AFL emergency three times last season.

He will be the eighth player to wear jumper No.32 for the Eagles after Murray Wrensted (29 games), Shane Cable (1), Matt Clape (29), Paul Peos (4), Ashley Blurton (7), Andrew Embley (250) and Simon Tunbridge (8).

He also will become the second Bailey Williams in the AFL alongside the Bulldogs’ defender of the same name, who was drafted in 2015 and has played 54 games.

So, as his career unfolds, the West Coast ruckman will become known as Bailey J Williams.

At least he is the only ‘Bailey’ in the Eagles camp – the Dogs have three. There is Bailey Williams, Bailey Smith and Bailey Dale.

There is also Bailey Banfield at Fremantle, Bailey Scott at North Melbourne and Bayley Fritsch at Melbourne. And Zac Bailey at Brisbane.

The Eagles’ Williams was also a useful high-jumper in his days at Western Port Secondary College, located in the seaside town of Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula, 77km south-east of Melbourne.

A search of the Internet reveals a post from October 11, 2016 which identifies him as the winner of a silver medal in the Under 16 years’ high jump at the Southern Metropolitan Region Athletics Championships with a leap of 1.9m.

He’s hardly changed a bit...