Player Watch Sid Draper

[AFC979810]

1) First year GAJ played for a team that won 50% of its games instead of 78%
2) every player’s rate of improvement year-on-year is different, even regression is possible in the development process, which is arguably what we’ve seen from Draper this year

Draper was not ready this year to hold his place in a contending team, we need to accept that. Hopefully we see a good level of improvement over the pre-season

C'mon Geelong were 9th in 2002. Pushing hard for a finals position (they missed on %). Lets not act like they were a bottom side that was in a full rebuild.

I get it, but who are we leaving out so Sid develops? When Ablett was developing Geelong were not a great side. They were throwing games into youngsters.

When we have a full list to choose from, who you leaving out? willing to put him in a finals game ahead of who? he just isnt ready and frankly i dont think he showed any glimpses that if he had 10 full games in a row he would have commanded his spot. Did he get a fair run at it, probably not. Not played in good positions etc.

Smith, Nank, Jones, Cook, Murphy combined for 29 games.

 

[WeeBlake]

I was hoping with Rankine out we’d use him as a fast small forward, with instructions to 1. Hit f50 stoppages at the kind of pace few can match 2. Manic f50 defensive pressure when we don’t have the ball - but instead he got some centre square mid minutes and looked confused.

I agree he is not ready to be a midfielder at AFL level. Maybe next yer we can give Curtin more time in the middle and Draper can play wing, where his pace and work rate can be weapons. We need to play him (like everyone) to his strengths, and at least for now those are his strengths.

 

[Cromulant]

Good that we gave him a crack, but he comes out for Rash IMO

 

[Iridescence]

Nobody is seriously doubting whether Sid will make it as an AFL player long-term, are they? He's obviously not ready now, but Curtain has shown that things can change quickly.

Give him another pre-season in the gym, a big summer to work on his footy IQ and a clearly defined role with some KPIs to hit, and I'm confident he'll come on in leaps and bounds in 2026.

 

[TBM]

Nobody is seriously doubting whether Sid will make it as an AFL player long-term, are they? He's obviously not ready now, but Curtain has shown that things can change quickly.

Give him another pre-season in the gym, a big summer to work on his footy IQ and a clearly defined role with some KPIs to hit, and I'm confident he'll come on in leaps and bounds in 2026.

I think most comments (rightfully) agree with your sentiment

I also think the sub rule has impacted him a lot this year (like many young players across the league). Being subbed on/off constantly hasn’t allowed continuity. Hopefully it’s gone in 2026.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Played like a guy that wasn’t convinced he belong med and knew he had half a game to change that.

Set him up for failure and let the usual suspect clubs useful idiots go to town on him for not succeeding.

Seen it before.

 

[Cromulant]

Set him up for failure and let the usual suspect clubs useful idiots go to town on him for not succeeding.

Seen it before.

Not sure how he was setup for failure ??

Hes just not quite there yet, and thats fine.

What weve seen this year is the gap between SANFL and AFL is pretty wide. Burgess has dominated all season long, Lachie Murphy looks like a footballer, as does Schoenberg at that level.

Sid just needs another summer in the gym and hopefully a full pre season on the track, rather than the hugely disrupted one he had this year.

 

[1990crow]

Nobody is seriously doubting whether Sid will make it as an AFL player long-term, are they? He's obviously not ready now, but Curtain has shown that things can change quickly.

Give him another pre-season in the gym, a big summer to work on his footy IQ and a clearly defined role with some KPIs to hit, and I'm confident he'll come on in leaps and bounds in 2026.

He looks like he needs some leg strength to stand up more with someone tackling him.
I think the decision making stuff is just panic that he doesn't think he can get away with stuff yet.

 

[Mutineer]

Not sure how he was setup for failure ??

Hes just not quite there yet, and thats fine.

What weve seen this year is the gap between SANFL and AFL is pretty wide. Burgess has dominated all season long, Lachie Murphy looks like a footballer, as does Schoenberg at that level.

Sid just needs another summer in the gym and hopefully a full pre season on the track, rather than the hugely disrupted one he had this year.

And Chayce Jones was the main reason the Crows beat Sturt yesterday, his experience in that very tight last quarter made all the difference IMO. Can't beat experience.

 

[hugecannon]

And Chayce Jones was the main reason the Crows beat Sturt yesterday, his experience in that very tight last quarter made all the difference IMO. Can't beat experience.

Was he playing wing or on ball?

 

[Southerntakeover]

Not sure how he was setup for failure ??

Hes just not quite there yet, and thats fine.

What weve seen this year is the gap between SANFL and AFL is pretty wide. Burgess has dominated all season long, Lachie Murphy looks like a footballer, as does Schoenberg at that level.

Sid just needs another summer in the gym and hopefully a full pre season on the track, rather than the hugely disrupted one he had this year.

He needs AFL exposure to gain a comfort level.

We choked off his opportunities by making him the sub constantly, banished him, then gave him a 'succeed and you can play' opportunity in the last round which he predictably strugged with.

If the gap between SANFL and AFL doesn't matter, and we accept that non-AFL players look good in the SANFL, why on earth would we think we'll learn to be an AFL player in the SANFL?

 

[Southerntakeover]

And Chayce Jones was the main reason the Crows beat Sturt yesterday, his experience in that very tight last quarter made all the difference IMO. Can't beat experience.

Not to worry guys. Bicks has been turning his pro scout abilities on the SANFL and has identified that the future is...

Checks notes Chayce Jones.

 

[Mutineer]

Maybe if the usual suspect actually watched the SANFL he could see that Draper's lack of composure and questionable decision making currently at that level transferred to the AFL on the weekend. Only reason Sid got selected was the lack of options given Murphy had previously not delivered either. The spark from Sid they were looking for failed to visualise unfortunately.

 

[WeeBlake]

Nobody is seriously doubting whether Sid will make it as an AFL player long-term, are they? He's obviously not ready now, but Curtain has shown that things can change quickly.

Give him another pre-season in the gym, a big summer to work on his footy IQ and a clearly defined role with some KPIs to hit, and I'm confident he'll come on in leaps and bounds in 2026.

I don’t watch enough SANFL to have a strong opinion. But he seems further away than we’d prefer him to be, at this very early stage.

Chayce Jones is a good cautionary tale- sometimes athletically-gifted and hard-at-it high-draft-pick juniors don’t develop the craft they need to be gun mids.

Sid still has plenty of time - but it’s just as stupid to assume he will come good as to assume he won’t.

 

[FantasticShirt]

I don’t watch enough SANFL to have a strong opinion. But he seems further away than we’d prefer him to be, at this very early stage.

Chayce Jones is a good cautionary tale- sometimes athletically-gifted and hard-at-it high-draft-pick juniors don’t develop the craft they need to be gun mids.

Sid still has plenty of time - but it’s just as stupid to assume he will come good as to assume he won’t.

That's exactly it.

It's very far from a write off, but it's not ridiculous to hope that a top 5 drafted mid can make it at an AFL level early. Plenty of top end midfielders make an impact in their first year. Sid hasn't really and he's played his last game for the year I would've thought.

If he needs more time, that's fine, but it would've been great to see him show some of the talent that got him drafted on the AFL stage already.

Hope he can string together some solid games through SANFL finals then do a big offseason.

 

[BRL121]

That's exactly it.

It's very far from a write off, but it's not ridiculous to hope that a top 5 drafted mid can make it at an AFL level early. Plenty of top end midfielders make an impact in their first year. Sid hasn't really and he's played his last game for the year I would've thought.

If he needs more time, that's fine, but it would've been great to see him show some of the talent that got him drafted on the AFL stage already.

Hope he can string together some solid games through SANFL finals then do a big offseason.

He needs to find some composure, a la Murphy Reid. Speed alone, plus panic, won't cut it.

 

[skam85]

Sid's now ineligible for the 2026 Rising Star

 

[Golumless]

Agree and I’m a very big Sid fan. Good he got CBAs and exposure to LDU/Parker/Sheezel, but he looked overly conscious of structure and monitoring opponents versus playing on instinct and to his strengths of getting the ball.

One play in the middle, he got the hands off Dowling and didn’t give back to Billy before bombing it inside 50 to a Roos defender, wasn’t great.

I’m not worried, I think like Curtin he will improve in second year. With a full pre-season I think he’ll play Round 1, 2026. But being subbed off, I’m not sure if he holds his spot for finals.

Yup, however we must remember that's what happens when you put someone who's game isn't ready for inside mid as an inside mid.

Proof will be in the pudding in a couple of years, but at the moment, it's just strange we've persisted for so long as an inside midfielder.

 

[Cromulant]

Yup, however we must remember that's what happens when you put someone who's game isn't ready for inside mid as an inside mid.

Proof will be in the pudding in a couple of years, but at the moment, it's just strange we've persisted for so long as an inside midfielder.

He's largely been an inside mid as a junior, and even at SANFL level. Makes perfect sense, except for the fact he isnt physically ready for it at AFL level.

 

[Golumless]

He's largely been an inside mid as a junior, and even at SANFL level. Makes perfect sense, except for the fact he isnt physically ready for it at AFL level.

What Draper is at SANFL/Junior level is irrelevant once he hits AFL level. If his talent looks like it holds up (and we're clearly convinced internally, seeing we went through that nonsense on Saturday), his spot is whatever is open at AFL level whilst his body develops.

It made no sense whatsoever from the moment Draper showed he wasn't physically ready (and he showed that against Gold Coast). After all, inside midfielders are not developed by playing inside mid at SANFL level, they're developed on the flanks at AFL (half forward, wing, half back flank). The only positive is the games played aren't as important as the gym/running track/off-field when it comes to development, but we did lose a potential way to influx a bit of extra talent, and likely improve our best 22 in the short term by throwing him at half forward.

 

[Southerntakeover]

"No one is writing draper off". Whole bunch of posters immediately do exactly that.

 

[Southerntakeover]

 

[WeeBlake]

"No one is writing draper off". Whole bunch of posters immediately do exactly that.

Read the posts again. Literally no-one is writing him off. You know what it looks like to write a player off, this is a not the same thing.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Read the posts again. Literally no-one is writing him off. You know what it looks like to write a player off, this is a not the same thing.

You literally compared him to Chase Jones and said its stupid to assume he'll make it.

Which is absurd, there's been enough already to know he's got something.

 

[AFC979810]

Only reason Sid got selected was the lack of options given Murphy had previously not delivered either. The spark from Sid they were looking for failed to visualise unfortunately.

We had plenty of options. Sholl, Cook, Nank, Edwards, Schoenberg.

We only had 4 players unavailable for the North game - Rachele, Rankine, Max and Pedlar.