West Coast’s newest Eagle Francis Watson was not surprised to see several talents from Western Australia’s top end garner attention during this year’s draft period.

Watson, from the small Kimberley town of Balgo, joined Halls Creek’s Sam Petrevski-Seaton and Cedric Cox as players hailing from WA's far north snapped up by the nation’s most prominent football clubs.

“I think it’s all about commitment,” Watson explained.

“The three of us we have stuck it out for a good while. I’m related to both of them. They are my cousins. Moving away from home and living away from home is hard sometimes, but you just get used to it and you’ve just got to work as hard as you can while you’re away.”

Hard work is something Watson is accustomed to.

For the past three years he has dedicated himself to a diesel mechanic technician apprenticeship while juggling the demands of playing WAFL football for Claremont.

His meteoric rise through football’s ranks is somewhat mesmerising given he only started playing the game properly four years ago.

“As a kid we always kicked the footy around,” Watson said.

“We never really had a football team or anything like that until I went to … Midland. That was my first team footy I played, as an under-17.”

A lifelong West Coast fan, the 21-year-old said he was thrilled to fill the last remaining spot on the Eagles’ list.

In spite of knowing he could land at West Coast ahead of the rookie draft, Watson said it was a surreal moment when recruiting operations manager Brad Smith called to confirm his category B drafting.

“I found out a little earlier than usual,” he said.

“They told me that I might have an opportunity to become a category B rookie. They offered me a position and committed to me and they wanted to know how I felt and I said, “Yeah, this is my team.” I have been going for the West Coast Eagles as a kid. I said I’d like to be committed back to you guys.”

The silky back man said he was most looking forward to working with the club's defensive unit, particularly 2016 All Australian Jeremy Mcgovern.

But his first point of order was to earn the respect of his new teammates by puting in the hard yards during the pre-season.

“It’s going to be really, really hard and at times it’s going to be tough, but you’ve got to try and get through it,” he said.