Crows No. 4 pick Sid Draper opens up on start to AFL career, why he’s happy to be the sub

Fans at the Crows couldn’t wait for top draft pick Sid Draper to be unleashed in 2025. But after starting the first three games as the sub, the young gun reveals why he’s grateful to the club.

Adelaide young gun Sid Draper says he now completely understands why he has been eased into life as an AFL player, as the Crow revealed the extent of the back issue that impacted his pre-season.

There had been a lot of excitement from Crows fans around their No. 4 draft pick, but Adelaide coaches and high performance staff were very deliberate in easing him into pre-season training.

And while he has featured in every game so far this season, his first three games came as the starting substitute.

Draper said he understood exactly why, having arrived at the club with a pars defect in his back – a stress fracture of the bones of the lower spine, also known as spondylolysis.

The young gun is easing into life at the Crows. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

“I heard so many things about first year players really wanting to go and they got held back but living it now it is for our own good and for my own good,” he told this masthead.

“I absolutely trust the coaching staff and the medical staff and their reasons why holding back a little bit.

“I am even noticing it now, having a limited pre-season.

“This has been really helpful for my body and for my development.

“I came in with a pars defect in my back, which was not ideal but it hasn’t affected me since and that is a credit to the high performance and medical teams at the Crows.

“They have allowed me to get on the park as much as possible which I am so grateful for.”

Having debutants as the sub is something that is routinely criticised from those outside of footy clubs, but Draper said it was viewed as an important role and he didn’t mind featuring as it for the first three games.

“The sub is such an important role, you have to be an impact player and it allows you to learn all the time but you have to come on and impact because that could be in the first or the last quarter,” he said.

Draper has featured in every game in 2025. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

“You have to impact, it is such an important role and I was happy to play the role as long as they needed me to.”

In the last two games for the Crows, the South Adelaide product has played the full four quarters.

Still on some managed minutes, he said he was happy with how his body has initially dealt with full AFL games.

“I think I am on slightly managed minutes to an extent but my body is holding up well,” he said.

Since he was selected by the Crows in last year’s draft, Draper has had plenty of attention and buzz around him – fuelled by some strong showings in pre-season.

He said he had been able to deal with the attention quite well.

“I have a pretty good support group around me and the club is really good at keeping your mindset within the four walls and that is the only thing that matters,” he said.

Sid Draper at the club’s ‘Train Like a Crow’ program.

“But the fans and everyone, all they are giving is love and I am open to receiving that. It is not too severe.”

Draper was getting the love at The Summit Sport Precinct at Mount Barker on Tuesday as he and other Adelaide players ran footy clinics for kids as part of the club’s ‘Train Like a Crow’ program.

“It was absolutely awesome fun getting to know the kids, it was just an awesome afternoon,” Draper said.

A few years ago that was Draper there, hoping to meet an AFL player.

He could be reunited with one from his days growing up in the south of Adelaide in the Round 9 Showdown.

Although it won’t be in such friendly circumstances as it was previously.

“Back in Willunga I would absolutely live for those days for an AFL player to come down and you would be in awe of them. It gives you something to strive to so to give back to these kids has been awesome,” he said.

“I played for Willunga and I remember one time we had Ollie Wines from the Power come in and it was just so cool.

“I went for the Crows which didn’t match up too well but he was just so nice.

“Him and Jared Polec when he was (at) Port came down and they were just so nice, I had a blast.

“Hopefully, if I could stay in the team and play in a Showdown that would be an absolute dream and lining up against Ollie would be pretty funny since I have a photo of him and myself together on my phone (from that clinic).”

Originally published as Crows No. 4 pick Sid Draper opens up on start to AFL career, why he’s happy to be the sub