The challenge of preparing yourself to play on some of the game's best key forwards must be relatively easy, when every week at training you're coming up against Sam Darcy.
That's the story for Buku Khamis, whose growing influence in the plans of Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge have been felt both on and off the field across the past fortnight.
Khamis put in hours of work with his line coach Daniel Pratt last week, when he found out he would be handed the job on Carlton's dual Coleman Medal winner Charlie Curnow on Friday night.
But nothing could prepare him for the task quite like having to stop Darcy at training, where Khamis' focus is placed squarely on trying to quell all 205cm of the side's unique, generational talent.
"Mate, he's impossible to stop," Khamis told AFL.com.au on Friday night. "He just takes the piss sometimes. But he's really good. He's come along this year and I think he's going to be really hard to stop."
So, when you're at training, how do you try to shut down a talent like Sam Darcy?
"Oh, man," Khamis laughed. "To be honest, you've just got to play really hard on him. It's hard, with all that length that he has. Plus, he's pretty smart too. That makes it so, so difficult."
The benefits of Khamis' lockdown efforts at training were visible last Friday evening, where the athletic interceptor recovered from a slow start to limit Curnow's influence in the second half and help spur the Dogs to a comeback eight-point win.
Khamis bravely left his opponent in several key moments, taking four big intercept marks and racking up four spoils, while limiting Curnow to just three touches and only one behind in the second half.
"It's important not to go into your shell," Khamis said.
"Obviously, if he's got a couple, it's easy to just go into your shell and stay quiet. But that's when you've got to work with your teammates and just continue to back in your gameplan.
"It is challenging. But, to be honest, every week is challenging. The AFL level is pretty tough at times. It's just about working with Daniel Pratt, our backs coach, looking at vision and leaning on guys that have played on forwards like Charlie before and getting some tips. It comes down to backing your read as well and respecting him."
Having missed a round one victory over North Melbourne, Khamis returned to the side the following week and performed admirably in the side's narrow six-point loss to Collingwood.
His growing importance was reflected when Khamis held his spot in the side, despite Liam Jones and James O'Donnell both returning from injury, with O'Donnell even thrown forward to accommodate Khamis featuring in the backline.
"Buku has been with us for a while," Beveridge said. "I think it's probably about eight years now. He hasn't played a lot of AFL footy, but he might just be maturing as gets into his late 20s.
"I thought he was very, very good last week. Tonight, he, Liam Jones and Rory Lobb as the three key backs were quite outstanding. That's really promising for us, because Buku's initial challenges were the four-quarter aspect and getting his fitness and his strength up to a certain level. Now, as he's matured, he's in that sweet spot.
"We're starting to see it at AFL level, and we love it. He's an undersized key back, but he's extremely athletic and really powerful and he really gets off the ground. He was terrific tonight."
After playing just 10 games across his first five seasons on the Dogs' list, Khamis broke through to feature 17 times last year. This season, though, looks like it could be yet another year of improvement for the talented 25-year-old. Performances like last Friday night's back up that viewpoint.
"At the moment, I feel like I'm tracking in the right direction," Khamis said.
"I'm working well with the boys down there, especially Rory and Liam. When it comes to backing my read, I just back it 100 percent and I just play hard. 'Bevo' puts a lot of confidence in me. We all have that license."
