He might have recently turned 30, but star West Coast Eagles ruckman Nic Naitanui reckons he still has plenty of fuel in the tank.

Speaking to SEN’s Breakfast team this morning, Naitanui said he felt primed to play some of the best football of his career despite saying goodbye to his twenties on Monday.

While most people would lament the time they had spent on the sidelines due to injury, the 2012 all-Australian ruck opted to see a silver lining in the situation.

Naitanui, who has been limited to 35 AFL appearances during the past three seasons, hoped his extended stints away from the game might actually prolong his career.

“I’m old, but I think my body has still got a bit left in it,” Naitanui joked.

“I’ve only played 30-odd games over the last few years, so I’ve got no excuse saying I’ve been banged around too much.

“I think I’ve got a couple (years) left in me.” 

Naitanui also suggested the shortening of quarters this year might benefit him in the long run.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the AFL recently cut quarters from 20 minutes and time on to 16 minutes and time on in case teams had to play multiple games per week to complete the 2020 season.

There is no guarantee that will continue beyond this year, but Naitanui said he felt noticeably fresher after his round one hitout against Melbourne on March 22.

“The changes sort of looked after blokes like me, cutting the game time down to 16 minutes every quarter,” Naitanui said.

“I think this new format with the way the game lengths have been shortened (will help me).

“Footy might look different for the next couple of years. If we are playing two or three games in a week or week and a half you might not be playing every game, so the longevity of it might last a bit longer.

“I guess I won’t really know until I’m back playing footy and see how the body is going.”

One of Naitanui’s former teammates seemed to think an older rule change might extend his time at the game’s highest level.

Naitanui said West Coast’s all-time games record holder Dean Cox recently contacted him to complain about how easy modern day ruckmen had it not having to deal with a third man up in stoppage contests.

While he enjoyed the banter with his former mentor, Naitanui conceded the 2006 premiership ruckman had a point.

However, he thought ruckmen had become more dynamic since the rule was introduced before the start of the 2017 season.

“Dean Cox actually called me a couple of weeks ago and was getting into me saying he would have played a lot more footy if there was no third man up,” Naitanui said.

“What teams used to do, especially if you were playing two ruckmen, was jump into blokes like Aaron Sandilands when the other blokes wrestled. He reckons we’re protected species now. I agree with him a bit.

“We’ve got a bit more leverage to do what we want and I think the ruckman are probably becoming a bit more athletic and not as physical and wrestling each other around like the Brendon Lades and Coxs used to do back in the day.”