Sam Durdin's hour is fast approaching as he prepares for the AFL National Draft Hot property: Sam Durdin relaxes with his dog on his family farm in Halidon. THE long and nervous wait will come to an end for bush footballer Sam Durdin as he attends the AFL's glitzy national draft on the Gold Coast tonight. Durdin, who hails from a sleepy hamlet in the Mallee, is tipped to be the first South Australian selected, most likely in the top 20 and possibly in the top 10. Adelaide's first pick is at No. 14, and the strongest interest in Durdin has come from the Crows and Fremantle, which has the pick before. "It's a mixture of excitement and nerves,"" Durdin, 18, said as he was packing for the Gold Coast. You just don't know what will happen, and I've always prepared myself for the worst, not getting picked at all. "If I do get picked up, I'm not really fussed where it is."" His new destination as a listed AFL footballer will be a world away from the family's 2800ha grain and sheep farm in Halidon, a township which a population of fewer than 10. This is where he first kicked the football on the vast wheat fields with twin brother Mark. They grew up playing with the East Murray Tigers with mice running across the ground and as many girls as boys turning up to training. The club is now dormant because of a lack of players. Football and school were the social occasions. Their closest mates lived about 20km away. Durdin finished his schooling at Henley High School after being lured to the city by West Adelaide, and said the move had jolted him. "The first three weeks in Adelaide were the scariest of my life,"" he said. I'd come from the East Murray Area School which had 40 kids from reception to Year 12. Henley High had about 1300. I was really homesick at first. "It's really hard to leave a place like this,"" he said as he gestured over the wide expanses outside of the homestead. "But I think it has prepared me well for another move."" Durdin has had friends, football coaches and various insiders confidently tell him where he's going to end up after tonight's draft. There are mock drafts, expert commentators and draft followers with their own theories on how clubs will go about their selections. But Durdin, who can play key posts both in attack and defence, has shut out the predictions for fear they could do his head in. "There's just no way of knowing,"" he said. I'm just ignoring all of it. "Last year, everybody seemed to know who the top picks were going to be; this year it's just too even."" Durdin has had plenty of time to get nervous about the draft; speculation on the top players was already in full swing by the mid-season mark and he impressed both in the under-18 carnival and by finishing the season in West Adelaide's league team. But he's not counting his chickens. "If you don't get picked up, you can either crack it or get on with it,"" Durdin said. "Clubs will still watch you, to see how you handle it.""