#2 Big Sammy Draper (from May 2024)

The point is to try get some assets for him while his value is high, IMO we should keep him as he has a while left and has been improving year on uear

Long putters

2 handed ten pin bowling

All
Laughed at but
Hugely successful

I think there are a lot of posters that just don’t like him and when we lose the first place they go to vent is the Draper thread. Then use irrational arguments like he’s an attention seeker.

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They might not be spuds until they wear red and black.

Agree

Double handed back hand shots in tennis were laughed at too.

What Draper is doing is not a snap, it’s a deliberate side on set up.

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I hope when he sets up in this way going forward the crowd rather than groaning, cheers.

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Niceeeeee.

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He’s definitely getting better. But, if this season is a complete write-off, we finish bottom 4 and him leaving via Free Agency gets us a pick inside the top 5, then it’s within our best interests to let him walk. That’s not hating on Draper at all. That’s using the system to our advantage and getting more top-end picks into our club before Tasmania is in the comp and owning the first round of drafts come 2027.

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It’s a fair argument, however the question ultimately is are we going to get a better player with that pick? The picks we have had around this level over the last few years have got us Reid, Perkins, cox, tsatas. The jury is still definitely out as to whether any of those players will be as good as Draper. If I was a betting man I’d say only one of those could end up better than Draper. That’s not great odds based on history that we will recruit and develop a player that impacts games as much as Draper.

Draft picks are easily overrated in short so although you may be right personally for me I have more faith in Draper then I do our ability to pick a better player with say pick 5

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I know I keep bringing this up, but I never see this properly addressed and it’s frustrating to me.

The return from letting Draper go via free agency is not the pick directly after our first round (for arguments sake, #5 if we finish 15th).
It’s pick #5, minus whatever it costs to replace him.

It drives me crazy continually seeing ā€˜we should definitely let him go for pick 5’, and I’m not even 100% against it.
I just want to see, ā€˜we should definitely let him go for pick 5 and pick up X with pick 24 which I think is feasible.’

Edit: unless you think we can replace him within our existing list with Wright/Cox/Visentini. But if you think that, then say so.
I’d disagree, but at least it’s a complete position which I’d respect.

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This. I love Draper in our Team but if he were playing in that Crows team they may have a tilt at a flag in tne next 2-3 years, we won’t but we need tne strong draft capital. Bryan will always be weaker than Draper but would be happy with him as number one whilst we rebuild pre Tassie

The same when you commit like that.

Sam has worked out aroutine that works for him, and ner looked like missing any of those goals , off 1 step. Go back 2 years and he was the polar opposite. People can laugh all they want but his technique is simple and more importantly it is effective.

That’s exactly what we should do but we will never do it.

We also have a completely new list management team than the one who butchered 2020, and this team will have a complete top age years worth of data to use, unlike the team old team in 2020.

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Nice.

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Sammy D will surprise on the upside this year I’m totally against letting him go
He is a heart and soul bomber and is clearly improving every year in many aspect of his game. We need more like him

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You’d only let him go if he would net you a top 3 pick in a good draft year. There’s no guarantee we will end up in the bottom 2, no guarantee we’d get a Band 1 compo, and no guarantee this years draft is a good one yet.

Don’t resign this bloke. Get a first round compo pick and f*cking run! There are ruckman in the WAFL that would give us more.

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Essendon need to consider a lot of things and it’s too early in the year to understand all the variables. I think this is why we haven’t put a contract in front of him yet. Draper wants to stay and will re-sign if we offer him a decent deal in the next couple of months.
What we need to consider.

  1. The reward of we lose Draper via free agency - if we are bottom four he will trigger band 1 compo which is another top five pick
  2. What we have in the works regarding other free agents. If we believe we have a player or two coming via free agency losing Draper will not net us a high pick
  3. Back up ruck stocks if he leaves/Can we go with just Bryan.

All in all - it’s a wait an see for the time being. This years draft is key. We need to hit it again/bring more talent in. I think it’ll play out a bit like James Frawley that year he went to the Hawks. Melbourne wanted to keep him but had to let him go when they found out they would be given pick three. If that is the case for Essendon sadly we must do the same.
Draper is important to marketing/memberships etc. He is a favourite player for a lot of kids. We’ve let go Stringer, Walla has left so it’ll be another heartbreak. Tears will flow but it’ll be better long term for the club.

If we can fight back/get back to that mid-table then he will stay.

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We will be bottom 3 for certain. So if we can get a first rounder for him as compensation we 100% have to do it

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