Sam Draper (born 28 September 1998) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who plays for the

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). He was recruited with the 1st draft pick in the 2017 AFL rookie draft.

Early life

Draper was born in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, but he lived in Brede in

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

for six years, where he enjoyed playing association football. Draper played for South Adelaide in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL) for the 2016 season.

AFL career

In 's

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) match against in 2019, Draper tore his ACL. He missed nearly 12 months of football in his recovery, but signed a four-year contract extension in August of 2019. The ruckman debuted in Round 9 of the

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

in 's 63-point loss against the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

. On debut, Draper picked up 9 disposals, 2 marks and 2 tackles, and kicked a behind. He quickly became a fan favourite through the remainder of the 2020 season due mostly to his extremely physical style of play and mullet hairstyle. He went on to play 8 games and win the club’s Lindsay Griffith’s Rising Star award at the conclusion of the season. Draped switched his number 38 guernsey for number 2 prior to the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. He suffered a

syndesmosis A syndesmosis (“fastened with a band”) is a type of fibrous joint in which two bones are united to each other by fibrous connective tissue. The gap between the bones may be narrow, with the bones joined by ligaments, or the gap may be wide a ...

injury in Round 2 of 2021 after a good start to the beginning of the season. He was out of the team for 12 weeks before returning to the lineup in Round 14. Playing every game of

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, a highlight came when Draper kicked Goal of the Year against in Round 18.

Eddie Betts Edward Robert Betts III (born 26 November 1986) is a former Australian rules football player who played as a forward for Carlton Football Club, Carlton and Adelaide Football Club, Adelaide in the Australian Football League between 2005 and 2021. ...

called it Goal of the Year during

Fox Footy Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Australia operated out of its Melbou ...

's live commentary. The following season, Draper was the target of controversy for an umpiring decision involving forward Taylor Walker. Walker's tackle on Draper was not called

holding the ball Holding the ball is an infraction in Australian rules football. The rule results in a free kick being awarded against a player who fails to correctly dispose of the football upon being tackled by an opponent, although not under all circumstance ...

by the match officials in the dying seconds of the match. The AFL later conceded that the decision was an error. Draper scored the opening goal in 2024's

ANZAC The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was originally a First World War army corps of the British Empire under the command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the ...

Day draw with , but did not play again until June after he underwent a knee surgery. Draper started the 2025 season in what he and the club described as "career best form", forming a strong ruck partnership with Nick Bryan and spending plenty of time up kicking goals up forward. Draper caused a stir by choosing to

snap kick Snap or SNAP may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Snap'' (film), the initial release title for the 2013 film ''Enter the Dangerous Mind'' * '' The Stanly News and Press'', a newspaper in Albemarle, North Carolina, US * "Snap" (''Duty Free'') ...

all his set shots, even when directly in front of goal, however it proved highly successful, not missing any of his snaps across the first five rounds of the season. However, unfortunately, Draper suffered a ruptured

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

in round 6, ending his season.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of 2024'' , - ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, , , , 38 , 8 , , 1 , , 3 , , 46 , , 20 , , 66 , , 15 , , 15 , , 148 , , 0.1 , , 0.4 , , 5.8 , , 2.5 , , 8.3 , , 1.9 , , 1.9 , , 18.5 , , 0 , - ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , , , 2 , 13 , , 2 , , 5 , , 85 , , 46 , , 131 , , 31 , , 23 , , 316 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 6.5 , , 3.5 , , 10.0 , , 2.3 , , 1.7 , , 24.3 , , 4 , - ,

, , , , 2 , 22 , , 12 , , 7 , , 140 , , 74 , , 214 , , 35 , , 33 , , 523 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 6.4 , , 3.4 , , 9.7 , , 1.6 , , 1.5 , , 23.8 , , 1 , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , , , 2 , 16 , , 10 , , 12 , , 101 , , 53 , , 154 , , 37 , , 28 , , 282 , , 0.7 , , 0.9 , , 7.2 , , 3.8 , , 11.0 , , 2.6 , , 2.0 , , 20.1 , , 0 , - ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, , , , 2 , 14 , , 11 , , 10 , , 122 , , 57 , , 179 , , 49 , , 31 , , 306 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 7.6 , , 3.6 , , 11.2 , , 3.1 , , 1.9 , , 19.1 , , 2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 73 !! 36 !! 37 !! 494 !! 250 !! 744 !! 167 !! 130 !! 1574 !! 0.5 !! 0.5 !! 6.8 !! 3.4 !! 10.2 !! 2.3 !! 1.8 !! 21.6 !! 7 Notes

In the media

Draper is a host of the 200 Plus podcast with

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...

sports journalist Nick Butler and North Melbourne Football Club player Charlie Comben.

References

External links

* * * 1998 births Living people Essendon Football Club players Australian rules footballers from South Australia South Adelaide Football Club players People from Brede, East Sussex Australian people of English descent Australian sports podcasters 21st-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1990s-stub