Big Sammy Draper - #1 ruckman now #2

Leuey ain’t part of the future and Tommy is 29 and has had his injury concerns over the years.

Drapers development should be the priority and I hope we get a few games into him this year.

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I know all that so it makes me wonder why he is playing second fiddle.

Our development is a head scratcher at times.

He is one year into an AFL career as a ruck and is still learning the game and he’s playing forward most weeks.

He should be playing ruck still as he has a lot to learn still.

He’s probably stronger in the ruck than around the ground. The best way to develop general play skills is to not play ruck as much.

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Developing a second year 19 year old ruckman.

Who’s primary ruck in the twos tonight.
Who rucked for almost the entire second quarter last week as a good solid workout.
Who by his own admission, in an interview earlier in the year, acknowledged he’s playing forward because a modern ruck needs to develop more than one string to his bow.
And you’re concerned about his development?

A game or two this year.
Four or five next year when Belly is injured / rested.
And at the age of 21 he’s cherry ripe to battle a 31 year old Belly for first ruck duties in 2020.

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You can practice rucking as well if not better at training. A 2 hour session against belly and Looney at training would be far superior to rucking at VFL.

The same cant be said for forward craft. A real match is so much more valuable than training.

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That may be so but I don’t believe he’s at that stage yet.

He showed great promise last year as a ruck and something he did far more of was take pack marks.

He is lost as a forward and that shouldn’t be a surprise.

At least in the ruck he can continue to develop a feel for the game as well as stay involved in the play as well as continue to work on his tank.

In my opinion he should be getting priority at VFL level and if Belly needs a rest then one or two games at senior level.

He’s miles off senior level still but one or two games could really show how far off it he is and what he needs to work on if he wants to make it.

I can see very little upside to an obvious ruckman playing predominantly forward in what is effectively his second season of football ever.

Him getting full time ruck in the seconds should be a priority.

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A ruck needs to be able to go forward, he needs to have the nous to fill the hole in the backline when in that part of the ground. This development (as frustrating as I’ve found it) is actually the best thing for him. It gives him a solid grounding in the fundamentals of his role. Once he’s got all that I’m sure he’ll be getting a lot more time in the ruck. Need to remember his background of soccer means that he has a lot of holes in his experience.

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I disagree.

A 19 year old kid should be playing primary position this early in his career to build confidence.

You can always work on other areas as you mature.

I want him IN because yelling BIG SAMMY DRAPER just feels right

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I haven’t been a fan of his limited ruck minutes so far this year.
But maybe it’s partly a plan to help him run the year out well.
The odd full game here and there (like tonight) and plenty of 25 to 50 percent ruck games in the first half of the season, then build it up in the second half of the year.

You dodged commenting on my post where I pointed out he is still playing substantial ruck minutes.
Probably to maintain confidence.
And develop further.

Reminder - first / sole ruck as we post

Ah ■■■■ it
No one on Blitz reads / comments on balanced posts
I’ll just go back to getting ■■■■■■ before the ■■■■■■■ big one kicks off

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I didn’t dodge anything.

He has played far less this year in balance and unless Leuey gets injured I dont see it changing. He should be first choice

(Almost) no one plays two rucks nowadays anyway. We certainly wouldn’t play him as a secondary ruck ahead of Smack. If he plays it will be as a ruck (and bench).

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Agree 100% - Yet somehow EFC rated Campbell higher, but he was never on Essendon’s primary or rookie lift - It was a mistake.

Nah - The club somehow rated Campbell higher and yet Campbell wasn’t on the list - And Jenkins always projected to be forward.

Yeah, I don’t know how that happened.

I actually didn’t mind Campbell when he was with us. He was very much just a ruck prospect though, where Jenkins was very athletic.

I was disappointed when he left.

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This kid is showing so much that you would think he’s been playing AFL all his life.

Loves to take a big grab and can get involved in link up play.

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Progressing beautifully.

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Very impressive kid, will be AFL ready as Bellchambers starts to decline. Only needs to tidy up on his kicking and handballing skills, when he does that he’ll be good to go

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