PORT Adelaide's first-round draft pick Chad Wingard has spoken of his excitement of remaining in his home state after being selected by the Power with pick No.6.

With Adelaide-based clubs holding a solitary selection in the first 26 picks of Thursday night's NAB AFL Draft, the chances of the highly-rated Sturt midfielder staying in South Australia weren't great.

But Wingard got his wish of remaining in South Australia, with Port Adelaide swooping on the talented teenager with the first selection after Greater Western Sydney called out the first five names.

Wingard suggested he was comfortable with the prospect of shifting states, but admitted he, and especially his family, were happy the Power read out his name so early in the piece.

"The look on my mum's face - I've never seen it before," Wingard told AAP.

"She was very proud of me and I think it's a happy feeling for her to be able to see her son for a little bit longer.

"I probably won't get homesick now. I'll only be 45 minutes from home. It's not so much relief but I'm just very happy."

While most draft pundits expected Wingard to slide to the Power, the SA under-18 captain said he was still in the dark prior to Thursday night.

"They [GWS] had 11 of the first 14 picks so it was a big possibility [he would be drafted by the Giants]," Wingard said.

"You can't expect anything going into a draft.

"Anything can happen - people slide and people go up. I'm just very lucky I'm going to the Power."

However, the left-footer knows he still has plenty of work to win over his family, who are all staunch Adelaide supporters.

"It wasn't my choice [to be a Crows supporter]. My parents were very demanding when it came to the Crows.

"I'm going to have to transform them into Power supporters."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs