“Absolutely no doubt”: Crows set to pursue Dons ruckman Draper next off-season

Adelaide is set to make a big push to sign Essendon’s Sam Draper next off-season according to AFL Media’s Cal Twomey.

Draper becomes a restricted free agent at the end of next season and with the 26-year-old hailing from South Australia, Twomey is certain that the Crows will make him a big target for 2026 and beyond and may have already started planning on trying to bring him in.

While Twomey expects the Crows to come for the ruckman, he says that the 73-gamer has been very happy at Essendon and hasn’t previously looked to return to Adelaide across his eight years at Tullamarine.

“Adelaide will come hard for Sam Draper, I've got absolutely no doubt about that,” Twomey told AFL Trade Radio.

“Maybe they already have started those conversations as well.

“But I think that the Bombers and we'll be keen to re-sign him and also he's got a pretty steady life in Melbourne as well and hasn't previously looked to go back to South Australia.”

“He's been very happy at the Bombers.”

While Adelaide has been targeting big names from other clubs that are South Australian, Twomey thinks that the push to sign Draper also makes sense from a list perspective with current No. 1 ruck Reilly O’Brien turning 30 next year.

“But I do think that the Crows will be well and truly in his ear about getting him to their footy club as a South Australian,” Twomey said.

“But also, for their ruck stocks too because Reilly O’Brien is coming into the back end of his career.

“They also had a crack at Ned Moyle earlier in the year.

“So that's clearly something that I think they'd be targeting.”

Draper has been Essendon’s No. 1 ruck since midway through the 2021 campaign.