But that hasn’t calmed the athletic backman’s nerves ahead of the biggest moment in his footballing career on the Gold Coast on Thursday night.

He was suspicious when the AFL organised him to be flown to Queensland for the draft.

“I was a bit shocked by that,” Marchbank said yesterday.

“I thought it was a prank call until I got the email to confirm it — I thought one of my mates was pulling my leg.

“It’s all pretty nerve racking and you have mixed emotions.

“They are exciting times but there is an unknown part of it as well.”

Marchbank is widely predicted to be picked up in the top 20 despite being held back by injuries in his past two seasons with the Murray Bushrangers.

He missed the second half of the TAC Cup this year with a knee injury but showed enough at the national under-18 championships to stay at the forefront of the recruiters’ minds.

“My body is going really well,” he said.

“I saw the surgeon last Thursday and he confirmed things were fine.

“I started running last week and I’m feeling good.

“I have had a few injuries over the past few years so hopefully the worst is behind me.”

While Marchbank has been compared to Collingwood’s Ben Reid because of his ability to play in defence or forward, the 193 centimetre swingman is still getting used to playing key position.

“In the juniors I played in the midfield but it was only after the under-16 championships in Sydney that I grew six centimetres and shot up to 190 centimetres,” he said.

“I have only really started playing backline over the past two years; it’s a little bit of a learning curve for me still.”

Rennie’s Dan Howe and Mooroopna’s Nathan Drummond are also considered strong chances of being drafted.