HE MAY always have been a monty to be drafted, but even new West Coast ruckman Nick Naitanui could admit to a touch of nerves.

Sporting his new Eagles polo shirt after the club snaffled the athletic big man with the second overall pick in Saturday's NAB AFL Draft, the West Australian said he was relieved on hearing his name being called.

"I think my heart stopped for a few seconds," Naitanui said from Telstra Dome.

 "Nah, I was stoked."

The youngster, gifted with a prodigious leap, said his immediate thoughts had turned to teammates and friends who were awaiting their draft day fate.

Naitanui played both rugby and rugby league but AFL scouts were quick to identify his enormous potential.

He was offered a place in the AIS-AFL Academy and graduated from that program in 2007. There he worked under the likes of Academy coaches Jason McCartney and Michael Voss, while he also got to spend a week at the club he will now call his home.

That was the first time he got to meet his new coach, John Worsfold.

"I trained at the Eagles for a week with the AIS and he [Worsfold] was real helpful and real welcoming as well," Naitanui said.

"I remember watching some of his old games; he was a bit of a tough nut.

"We had Vossy at the AIS with us as well and he told us [how in] his first game when he came out as a junior he [Woosha] gave him an elbow to the stomach when he came out, so he was a bit intimidated.

"But Woosha's a real good bloke, real good."

That brief experience training at the Eagles not only gave Naitanui an insight into what life at AFL level is like, but will make day one on the training track a little easier for the quiet giant.

And he is looking forward to getting back alongside the likes of fellow big man Dean Cox, whose brain he hopes to pick from the moment he arrives at Subiaco.

"I've just grown up loving his work, and to learn off him [will be great]," he said.

"I've seen him as a mentor, so it'll be real good and be good for my development."