Showed enough for me to put him in before Clark thats for sure. Clark looked timid and as soft as butter in the ruck last week. Draper was far more physical, he is going to be a great ruckman.
I thought Belly was ok all things considered
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Agree, its not valid to extrapolate, but its fun, The wisdom of those following him in the VFL over the last 2 years ( including me, and just ask DJR, ) is that his tap work is really good and has been for quite a few games . However the VFL game at Beaconsfield last weekend, and the 15 minutes he played at JLT level show that he is now well advanced in his craft around the ground. He can take contested marks and hoof the ball 55-60 metres.
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Last night was the 1st I have seen of him in any footage.
I like the fact he has a bit of mongrel in the way he plays. A big boy who fearlessly crashes packs is priceless. Should hopefully make anyone in his area take an eye off the ball to see where he is.
Once he gets comfortable at senior level he will hopefully become a vitally important contributor to the team success
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He does look promising. The big Belly will have to go down for him to get a run though.
Only played the last 15 minutes, and did some good things. Flattening a pack from behind was the highlight for me. But even in that time was caught out of position on several occasions. Is coming on beautifully, but not quite ready yet. Although, if I were Zac Clark I wouldn’t be too confident of being number one backup by the second half of the season.
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Ho ho ho… massive move by @reboot there folks. I think he may have just indicated that Drapers development is 6 months ahead of where he thought it might be.
Good news.
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At this rate will be our number 1 this time next year. Reckon he may get a few games under his belt sooner than most think
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I bet Sheeds would throw him in like the old days if he thought they would have a crack. God I miss our glory days
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Given that he is unlikely to get many games this year, provided Bellchambers doesn’t implode, he should be a good chance at nabbing the VFL bnf
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Is he a bit slow? (running) I know most of the big guys are. He wasn’t out there for long but i thought he was a fair bit off pace. Like the look of him though. He seems super competitive. Probably the most important quality for a ruck.
Nope. Not slow.
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He just has a kinda weird running style from memory. A kinda shuffle. Groovy baby.
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He is no slower than most ruckman but he still has that half second of processing time imo, which should be eliminated with experience and being exposed to the speed of AFL should expedite that development.
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Would have been great to see a little more of him but Belly obviously needed the run. From all reports he’s going to be awesome. We’re pretty lucky to have a promising young ruck developing. They’re not easy to find.
Is he? The games coming on in 10 mins. I’ll watch him closely (not that 10 mins will give me any real answers). I’d had a few beers by the time he came on Thursday night.
I particularly like Sammy’s attitude. He loves the physical stuff, and knows how big and strong he is. He played at Geelong in baby pink boots, and when someone involved with the team commented on the colour choice for his first game he just grinned and said “who’s going to have a go at me”.
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The TV commentators
It would be good if Roos said it to his face in a dark alley
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Yeah.
Drapes would be all like … "man…you can’t even see my shoes in this dark alley"!
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Loking at a replay of Q4 against Geelong, I noticed in 15 minutes he played, Draper twice took the ball out of the centre bounce and handballed to a passing mid for a clearance. This is something TBell rarely tries, but Draper looked particularly slick; almost Grundy-like ! Maybe it was possible because the umps were not recalling the ball when the bounce was askew, distinctly favouring one ruckman or the other.
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