Four years is all it all it took for Esava Ratugolea to become an AFL footballer.

Drafted by the Cats at pick 43, the 18-year-old is a relative newcomer to the code following a move across the border from New South Wales to Cobram in 2005.

A rugby league player at heart though living in a town with it no where to be found, Ratugolea was faced with a choice between football and soccer.

He went with the latter before realising the error of his ways.

“I grew up in New South Wales in Griffith. My whole family has just grown up with rugby so when I was younger I wanted to be a rugby league star,” Ratugolea told Cats Media.

“I ended up just getting real tall and all my mates asked me to join footy. They needed a ruckman or a full forward.”

“This year past will be my fourth full year of football.”

At 194 centimetres and 95 kilograms and possessing the second-best vertical leap in his draft class, there is no doubt Ratugolea’s mates were right to recruit him.

Though having now arrived at Simonds Stadium, Ratugolea simply wants to prove the Cats were just as right as his friends back home.

“I just want to get started real quick and mainly gain the respect of the teammates and the coaches of course.”

[I want to] show my strengths and show them they didn’t make a mistake in picking me.”

“I can’t wait to get stuck into it.”

Watch the full interview with Esava Ratugolea in the video player above.