WESTERN Bulldogs draftee Clay Smith stood by and watched his new teammates thump each other in competitive work on Wednesday, envious he wasn't allowed to participate.

The 18-year-old was taken by the Dogs in Thursday night's NAB AFL Draft with their first selection, No.17 overall.

Watch Clay Smith's full press conference on BulldogsTV's YouTube Channel by clicking here.

While he had already impressed with his elite running capacity in a VO2 max test on Monday and a 3.2km time trial on Tuesday, he was kept from the grunt stuff on Wednesday with fellow new faces Michael Talia, Tory Dickson and Daniel Pearce.

For the tough inside midfielder, it was the physical part of training he had been looking forward to the most.

"It looked pretty good and I would have liked to join in but as a first year player, they're easing us into it and getting the work load up but when we get a crack at it, I'd love to [get involved in the physical training]," Smith said after the session at Whitten Oval.

The former Gippsland Power left footer from the south-eastern Victorian town of Bairnsdale didn't specialise in football until he was 15.

He started playing basketball when he was seven, where he represented the state.

But a lack of opportunity to go any further made him trade the hardcourt for footy field and turn his head to Australian Football.

"Where we were playing [basketball], you had to have a squad team to represent and get selected from there and our association didn't have one," he said.

"That's when the Gippsland Power school boys started up and there was more elite footy and it took over."

He believes his basketball background has helped hone his awareness and ball handling, while it appears he possesses a laidback nature that was present the night - and days following - his recruitment to Whitten Oval.  

"I had mates and family around [draft night] and I was a bit chilled out and it didn't really hit me at first," he said.

"Over that weekend I went out and played golf with my dad and my brother and a couple of mates.

"It just still felt like a normal life, doing what I was doing down in Bairnsdale until I came up here and got all the gear and had a train. It sort of sinks in then."

Smith has moved to Melbourne and is staying within walking distance of the club with teammate Liam Jones before he moves in with a host family before Christmas.

Assistant coach Brett Montgomery described Smith as a player "who likes to get his hands dirty", which was on display when he won All Australian honours for his performance for Vic Country in the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships earlier in the year.

"I suppose that's just how I've grown up playing footy, as an in and under player," Smith said.

"I don't mind it."

Montgomery said Smith hadn't looked out of place in terms of the elite running group, which on Wednesday comprised of Matthew Boyd, Daniel Cross, Daniel Giansiracusa, Liam Picken and Nathan Djerrkura. 

He also said it had been pleasing to see the club's veteran players in such good shape, and the younger ones embrace the competitive work encouraged by coach Brendan McCartney.

"We're really lucky here [that] a lot of our older players are our fittest players and our most professional," Montgomery said.

"We've got a range of younger players, our list is becoming younger very quickly, and we're pleased with the way they're going.

"The competitive stuff, they've thrown themselves into that and it seems as if they're really enjoying it."

Players such as Adam Cooney, Brian Lake, Ryan Hargrave, Tom Williams and Dale Morris are continuing to work through their recovery from off-season surgery. 

Montgomery said there had been no setbacks with any of they players in the rehab group and it was likely the squad would "swell by seven or eight players" for the first session of 2012.

He also said Lake had been running earlier on Wednesday, making a "remarkable" improvement in his running gait, and was determined to lead from the front over the rest of the pre-season after a forgettable 2011.

To watch Brett Montgomery's press conference on BulldogsTV, click here.