Sid Draper was an unstoppable force in 2023. As a bottom-ager he achieved it all, claiming South Australia's MVP and All-Australian honours at the National Championships, winning the SANFL U18s premiership, and being named the Alan Stewart Medallist as best afield in the Panthers' triumph.
He also made his SANFL debut, was made a captain in the AFL Futures game before the Grand Final on the MCG, and was named to the coveted AFL Academy squad. He followed Harley Reid in being awarded the AFL Life Member's Scholarship to round out a year filled to the brim with accolades and success, all before he turned 18.
In stark contrast, 2024 has brought its weight in tribulations. The younger brother of 2021 draftee Arlo broke his leg in preseason and the shin fracture delayed his top-age campaign until May. Originally planning a season at SANFL-level alongside his brother, Draper was thrust straight into the national carnival - the most pivotal month of football on the calendar.
Amongst his challenges, the hallmarks of his game have never waivered. Draper is unabating in his pursuit of the football. With one-touch mastery and relentless physicality, he extracts the ball from contests and bursts forward of the stoppage with a wicked turn of pace.
Draper isn't made in the image of Scott Pendlebury, where time seems to slow and the path forward open up. He's more in tune with Patrick Dangerfield, a bundle of energy eager to explode forward at all times. Whether there's space to escape does not matter to the 18-year-old; he takes on opponents with reckless abandon and has no qualms in fighting tackles through pace or brawn.
With great expectation on SA's captain to carry his state through another carnival despite the interrupted lead-in, Draper put together another All-Australian campaign. He averaged 21 disposals, 3.8 clearances and 3.2 inside 50s as his under-siege state finished with a 1-3 record.
South Australia's 12-point triumph over the Allies was Draper's first full competitive hit out in eight months. That carnival block set him up to re-establish himself at league level with South Adelaide, and over the past three weeks he's rocked the SANFL.
Draper first dominated second-place Sturt with 23 touches and 11 tackles. He answered questions around his defensive work rate with a hard-nosed display as a pure midfielder in open age competition. On the other end, his elite agility and acceleration made him a nightmare to contain as the Panthers pushed the Double Blues. He backed it up the very next week with a best afield 29 disposals, nine clearances and 10 tackles against North Adelaide.
On Saturday the bottom-of-the-ladder Panthers finally notched their third win of the season, and a three-minute period of Draper brilliance proved pivotal. He notched two goal assists in quick succession out of the midfield before hitting the scoreboard himself, breaking the 50 metre line with a blistering run before converting truly with Port Adelaide's Ryan Burton left in his wake.
Sid Draper with three straight dominant SANFL outings. Broke the game open with two assists and a brilliant running goal in the space of three minutes vs PA.
— Jasper Chellappah (@Jasperc53) July 22, 2024
Story on my current number one in the #AFLDraft dropping Wednesday for @ESPNAusNZ
Footage from the superb @FootyStuffYT pic.twitter.com/6GFjuRapCs
No one midfielder at the top of the 2024 draft board is the perfect prospect, no one has answered those questions as emphatically as Draper. At SANFL level he's shown insatiable appetite to chase, pressure and tackle, pacing his Panthers teammates with 7.7 tackles per game. Those third quarter exploits were done at half forward, proving his positional versatility and scoreboard impact against the bigger bodies.
Recruiters knew of his power at the coalface, his sticky one-touch hands and speed exiting congestion. They had stacks of evidence that Draper could flick beautifully weighted handballs amongst a sea of bodies and pinpoint leading forwards in space. He was a leader by action last year, and a captain by appointment this season.
He was the known commodity of his draft year, one of three bottom-agers awarded AA honours, and one of two to go back-to-back. But this Draper feels wholly new, invigorating a down-and-out Panthers side to its best form of the season through defensive tenacity and wilful attacking intent. No teenager is doing that quite like the Willunga phenom.
Draper has been thrown challenges at every juncture, but through it all he sits atop ESPN's AFL Draft power rankings for July. The dynamic on-baller thrived under the weight of expectation and overcame every obstacle in his way. Through persistence in the face of adversity Draper remains a very real chance to be the first name read out in November.