Mitchell Moses is using his own experience as a teenage NRL debutant to mentor likely new Parramatta halves partner Dylan Brown.
Despite being just 18, Brown is expected to fill the hole left by the departure of Corey Norman to St George Illawarra with coach Brad Arthur set to give him first crack in trial games.
Brown is still listed as a development player in the Eels' squad but he is expected to be elevated to their top 30 before their season opener against Penrith on March 17.
The Auckland product only got a taste of open-age football in the last five weeks of the 2018 season when he was elevated to the Eels' NSW Cup feeder side after starring in the under-20s.
Parramatta knocked back overtures for Brown from the Warriors, who saw him as a replacement for Shaun Johnson, and he is on contract until 2020.
"If he's ready, he's ready," Moses told AAP when asked if Brown was up to the key role in first grade and the attention that goes with it.
"The way he handles himself at training, you can definitely see that he's ready to play. You don't want to put too much pressure on him."
Brown went a long way to earning the respect of NRL teammates when he pushed himself so hard during a pre-season training session that he fainted on the field.
Moses was in a similar position five years ago when he debuted at the Wests Tigers as a 19-year-old and suddenly had to also deal with a large amount of hype and media attention.
"It depends how you handle it, if the club wants to hype it up or the media wants to hype it up," Moses said.
"Everything that is happening now for Dylan is what happened with myself.
"If you handle it well you'll play good footy and you won't worry about it. If you look into it too much and let it affect you, it will show in your footy.
"He's got such a calm head for a young kid. He's a good person to have around the club and he's fit in with the boys straight away.
"I think he's got a bright future."
