TOP WEST Coast draft pick Brad Sheppard says he won’t be expecting a free ride in his debut AFL season and will be pushing early for senior selection.

Sheppard, who was snared by West Coast with pick No.7 in the 2009 NAB AFL Draft, flew to Melbourne for the draft on Thursday morning and arrived back in Perth on Friday to be unveiled at Subiaco Oval.

The East Fremantle junior said after a whirlwind two days he was looking forward to training with his new teammates on Monday and proving his worth. 
 
"I'm looking forward to Monday when I first get down to the club, meeting all of the guys and getting the screenings," he said. "Hopefully I'm all right.

"I'll see how I go with training and everything, but I wouldn't rule myself out of trying to get a game early on.

"You're not here to have a little ride along, so you want to push for selection first up and hopefully train well."

West Coast boasts a bevy of talented young midfielders and Sheppard is expected to fill a void across half-back, where his precise disposal and versatility can be utilised.

Parallels have been drawn with club champion and two-time premiership defender Guy McKenna, but Sheppard said that was a "big call".

"It'd be nice to be half as good as he was," he said.  

"I see myself [as being] pretty versatile, so I can play forward, back and in the midfield. Wherever they need me I'll play; wherever they want me."

Sheppard played 15 senior games with WAFL side East Fremantle this year and earned All-Australian selection after representing WA at the under-18 championships.

The talented youngster, who is a cousin of WA cricketers Mitchell and Shaun Marsh, was also a promising junior cricketer, but decided to focus on football this year.

He was hopeful on Friday that he had made the right decision, but said it had always been his dream to play football on Subiaco Oval.

"I'm pretty fortunate being able to stay in WA with my family and my friends," he said.

"It's a boy's dream to run out and play on Subiaco Oval in front of your home crowd, so I can't wait for it."