Sometimes West Coast captain Emma Swanson has to remind herself she's not competing with Daisy Pearce anymore.
Pearce, the former Melbourne star and now first-year Eagles coach, will lead West Coast in Friday's season opener against Richmond at Mineral Resources Park.
Swanson and Pearce were Demons teammates in the early women's exhibition games. They became AFLW midfield adversaries when Swanson played for GWS, then West Coast.
But with Pearce appointed Eagles coach over the off-season, their relationship changed again.
"It's been quite funny. Like, some of the young girls who didn't get to play with or against her, their initial thing was they're a bit star struck by her," Swanson told AAP.
"Then some of us older ones, she's obviously been an opponent for me for most of my footy career and it was a bit more competitive.
"I'm pretty competitive, so I had to park that and convince myself she's not the opposition anymore and that she's a coach, and you don't have to compete.
"We did a swimming session way back in pre-season, and I just, like, was out to just beat her all the time. So it's been a kind of funny transition, but she's been fantastic."
Swanson will miss West Coast's season opener with groin soreness, while forward Roxy Roux is sidelined by a hand injury.
Former West Coast Fever and Diamonds netball star Verity Simmons has been named by the Eagles for her AFLW debut, along with No.2 draft pick Jess Rentsch, Georgie Cleaver, Sanne Bakker and Tess Lyons.
Richmond were dealt a blow when two-time All-Australian Eilish Sheerin was ruled out with a quad injury, along with Sarah Hosking (hamstring) and Tessa Lavey (hamstring).
Swanson is adamant former gun midfielder Pearce can still go toe-to-toe with her charges when required.
"She does still have it and she probably could still play, although she says she can't," she said.
"Just the other week, we had a train-on go down with injury, and she's grabbed the bib, jumped in.
"The ball got kicked down to her as a three-v-one - she was the one - she managed to halve it and get it out of bounds."
Pearce's fierce competitiveness and winner's mentality is already setting in at the Eagles.
Between her ambition, and the inspiration of Sydney's rise to finalists last year, West Coast's young list are starting to believe.
"She's a winner, and she's always been a winner," Swanson said.
"If you look at the teams that she's played for, they've always been quite successful.
"One of the early chats that she had with us was just about, 'if you're not aiming for a premiership, then what are you aiming for?'
"We've used that analogy of shooting an arrow straight for the middle, like, why would you not go for anything other than the middle?
"She's brought a lot of belief with her."
