Geez some panic merchants here.
Leuny has publicly said, on a few occasions, that his role this year in the Twos is to help speed up Drapers development.
That’s why Draper has actually been our number one ruck in the latter part of the year, with Leuny starting and playing forward.
A pretty ■■■■■■ clear signal to all concerned about where the club rates Draper, and he’d be in no doubt about that either.
I’ll disagree with others about his readiness to step up - he won’t dominate games for a couple of years, but his ground positioning and marking has come on in leaps and bounds. His kicking is a work in progress but his work in packs for ground balls and throwing his weight around is already very good, and better than Belly’s. Wouldn’t be the first ruckman to invariably handball rather than kick.
An odd mix of skills, given his background - if he had to play NicNat, Sandi, or Newman (ground positions), they’d would trounce him, but I’d actually back him to hold his own against Grundy or Witts for example.
Give him a game. He isn’t ready but give him a game so he has a taste and can see what is required to give him the motivation to keep pushing over the summer and work even harder than he already is.
Believe ultimately whether Draper plays will depend on Leunberger - Luey may decide to give Draper the opportunity - And Port without Ryder is not much chopin the ruck.
It’s great that Draper is on the Liszt and could possibly play ‘2nd string’ this week. He must have progressed well practicing along side masters like Verdi.
