For mine, Draper should be playing primary ruck in the VFL. Leuenberger’s been playing ruck in the AFL for a decade, he should be able to go a few weeks without forgetting how to do it competently. And if his skills degrade a little bit well, let’s be honest, we’re not exactly giong to be giving him a three year contract extension anyway.
Draper, if we think he’s legit, should be given as much opportunity to learn as possible.
I think the issue with Leuey is cant play anywhere else.
They probably see it as an opportunity to develop Drapers skills so he can rest forward when in the AFL.
I personally don’t see it as necessary though because Draper can take a very good mark just as Belly can.
Data point: Loony got sent off to do laps after the game, presumably not having reached his GPS target.
Not surprised.
He is a warrior Leuey but very limited outside ruck contests.
I’m going to go start a “Play The Kids - VFL Edition” thread
Will certainly be interesting how we manage them and prioritise them.
We have three guenuine talks plus Smack who will obviously play forward.
We also have a stack of mids that will need opportunity.
We should have blooded some of the mids last year.
On the basis Port are likely to have no genuine ruckman and our two experienced ruckman have little upside could we go full Blitz and bring Draper in this week?
I don’t reckon. Bellchambers was a bit low energy, but he wasn’t “drop for a first game rookie” bad.
He did get beaten by a bloke who is 20yrs old, played less than 10 games and weighs about 80kg.
So he was pretty blooody bad
I’m comparing it to games like his 3 disposal final. That’s get dropped for a rookie bad.
Drapers no where near ready to carry our team yet.
A couple of games this year would be nice but he would get physically molested against the big rucks.
Partly correct . beaten around the ground, but won hitouts and hitouts to advantage by a large margin . Our midfield needs that in particular. Without TBells tap ruckwork, we would lose clearances by 15- 20 clearances. TBell was gassed playing against the kid. Thats going to be a bit of a problem against a Stefan Martin, but less so against the big ruckmen, until his match fitness improves over the season.
Sam is very good at ruckwork for his age, but his game around the ground needs a lot of work.
TBell’s mobility is poor and getting worse. He hardly trains, which is an indication that he has a chronic leg problem of some sort. He used to be reasonably mobile for his size, but that appears to be a thing of the past.
Nonetheless he is still our best tap ruckman, and he beat English decisively (as he should have). He is never going to contribute much around the ground.
As @chris_64 said Draper does not take marks or contribute much around the ground at VFL level at this stage.
Draper takes plenty of marks. And some pretty impressive ones at that. But his around the ground positioning still needs work, as does his reading of the play. Progressing very nicely, but not ready yet.
I didn’t see him take one at Frankston last Saturday. He played as a forward for a fair slab of the game, which probably didn’t help him, with Luenberger doing the bulk of the ruckwork.
Draper took lots of big marks last year. He’s very good in the air.
He looked a bit lost on the weekend but that will happen with the setup we had.
It was a day out for the small forwards.
According to the footy live app he averaged 1 mark a game last year in the VFL. He took 1 in round 1 of the VFL.
Of course, that average from last year could be 1.4 for all I know. Plus from memory he didn’t play much time on ground in a lot of his early games, so maybe his average in the second half of the year was closer to 2.
Still, he needs to take a lot more. Hopefully he gets more responsibility soon in the VFL then he seemed to have on the weekend. He seemed to thrive on those chances last season.
He takes more marks than Leuy
Seriously, have seen him take some surprisingly good pack marks, both sitting under high balls, and with a bit of a run at it.
As others have said, he gets a bit lost at times. A bit like his kicking which oscillates between poor and very good.
On the other hand, a legit comparison to English, who I’ve seen two weeks in a row, and is his second year.
Draper better tapwork, (weakest at boundary throw ins)
English better handballs, but Draper better at contested ground balls.
Marking - about par - English spilt everything two weeks ago.
Kicking - English better short, Draper better long.
I think he should get a taste later in the year to show him how much he needs to improve.
English is actually a very big talent. Kid will possibly be a star. I rated him highly in his draft year.