Big Sammy Draper - #1 ruckman now #2 (Part 1)

Love the idea of him deep. Get Wright up a bit and have Langford more of a lead up target.

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If that’s the plan and I believe it is then we need our smalls to get better on the ground, if they don’t the good teams will cut us up from half back.

I’m also scared we’ll think the long predictable bomb to the square will work because we have tall timber down there, yay.

I think he’ll provide a real presence in our fwd line

Opposition kpd can’t push him around, he crashes packs. Very capable of marking it and his set shots have improved dramatically

Was easy for opposition to be drawn to 2MP as that was often our main target, now we will have two. If 3rd tall defender sags off Langford he will be dangerous, and if that defender tries to jump in and help out will often see Lang left at ground level alone

Should provide a lot more opportunities for our smalls at ground level with ball more likely to be brought down front and square when have bigger targets contesting also, as well as not being intercepted against

Wright can play a bit higher, gets more space to work in and we all know good he is set shots from 50 out.

Sammy pumps up the team also when he kicks a goal, Hooker esque

Draper instead of being worn out from rucking all game will also be energized in his ruck stints which is where we get best of him

The net result of Draper fwd/ruck far exceeds us playing Jones or Caddy as a main kpf and having 2MP going into ruck IMO.

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I get the idea of Drapes resting forward but our lock it in defensive pressure when it hits the ground will be even more awful than it currently is.

Hope he’s been putting the time in with his goalkicking / general kicking practice, love him but he has sprayed a few in the past

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If Draper plays forward, no way we play Jones/Caddy until Stringer moves on.

Draper, Langford Stringer
Gresham 2MP Menzie/Perkins

… jesus. Even without the 2nd ruck we are a manic small forward short and far too tall.

I think a 2MP/Lang/Resting ruck/Stringer would be the tallest we can go. We really need Caddy to develop as a focal point so 2MP can play second ruck (which doesn’t bode well for the Byran/Draper combo).

Bookmark this. Bryan will overtake Draper in the next 2 years and be top 5 ruck in the comp within 5 years.

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Draper is fairly overrated by our fans, love his intensity and alpha type strut but in terms of consistency of performance he’s way off the top 10 rucks in the game, really need to see a week in week out game from him to really pin our ruck hopes on him.

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Nothing personal - I hope in 5 years time I’m not bumping a random comment in a Blitz thread to scoff or celebrate a prediction.

How else do we fufill our lives if not by doing that?

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“’Scotty’ (Brad Scott) has been awesome at just saying there’s no pressure on when I come back and whenever I’m 100 percent and good, that’s when I’ll play. I’m aiming (for round one) still, but we’ll see how we go.”

Hopefully he is completely over the injury when he returns, fingers crossed it’s not something he has to miss more games for and manage for years.

He could cause some headaches if used as a key forward at times this year.

“from ‘Drillips’ to ‘Drapestein’” :rofl:

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Don’t judge him on 2023 … was playing injured / underdone for most of it.

For mine we now have the cattle in the forward line to continually challenge opposite defence with match ups they can’t match up height wise

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Not just 2023, I really want to see 4 quarters from him, can’t remember many games where he was involved the whole time, doesn’t need to star the whole game but I’d love for him to become predictable for 80% of games and then 20% of Drapes showboat side, as opposed to anonymous most of the day and then a freakshow highlight.

I think he can do it fwiw, just saying it’s time we see it consistently.

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He isn’t up with the best ruckmen in the league - needs to round his game out a fair bit to get on track for that. But he has only played 50ish games, and the energy he brings to the club and team is unique and priceless.

I’m sure he would admit he has a lot of improvement ahead of him, great fella.

I like the idea of keeping him inside 50 a bit this year.

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I personally don’t like Draper forward. Firstly he is an average kick and secondly he isn’t a great mark. His strength is centre bounce hit outs. Also, having both Wright and Draper up forward will make us slow. We are already slow there compared to many other teams.

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Sounds like some messed up tropical fruit lmao

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Agreed.

But he’s far worse than average.

99% of the league is a better kick than him.

Can’t have a forward who is a 50/50 chance from a set shot 30m out directly in front. Will cost you games (eg Anzac Day last year).

Alternatively you have kpf options who are even less chance of marking the footy / bringing the ball to ground against top line kpd of the league and in congested packs

And also means our best kpf has to be risked in the ruck and away from fwd line for large periods of time impacting on our goal scoring ability

I don’t think we are too slow if it’s two genuine talls, 2MP has high level endurance and Draper is dynamic for a big guy - with mediums like Langford and Stringer around them + smalls

Is McStay, Cox/Cameron + Mihocek & DeGoey that different? Was Pies main setup

The 2 rucks is happening. And might be our longer term strategy with Draper & Bryan also

image

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