AFL Draft: Former Crows captain Mark Bickley backs Adelaide to select SA’s top talent Sid Draper

A former Crows captain has urged the club to pick South Australia’s top prospect in this year’s draft, declaring he has everything Adelaide’s midfield is lacking.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 18: Sid Draper of South Australia handballs as he is tackled during the 2023 AFL National Championships match between Vic Country and South Asutralia at Ikon Park on June 18, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denholm/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Pick Sid.

That’s the message from former Crows captain Mark Bickley to Adelaide’s recruiters as they weigh up whether to take South Australia’s premier talent with pick No. 4 in this year’s National Draft.

Draper, who captained South Australia at the under-18 national championships, is widely considered a top-10 prospect and has been strongly linked to the Crows.

The South Adelaide product has even been touted as a potential No. 1 pick.

Bickley said Draper had all the traits to complement Adelaide’s midfield, which has been criticised for being one-paced.

Sid Draper is South Australia’s top prospect in this year’s draft.

“I think more importantly for people who are saying, ‘are Adelaide going to take Sid Draper’, Adelaide need burst power out of stoppage,” Bickley said.

“They need someone who breaks away from stoppage — think Chad Warner. That’s one need.

“I reckon the other need … if you can get a classy midfielder who is the best kick in the draft and he’s someone who has got some speed as well, that would be another need.

“Adelaide have got Laird, Berry, Crouch that style of player who wins the footy. They don’t have the finishers.”

Draper averaged 108 ranking points in six SANFL seniors games this year and scored a whopping 200 points in his only under-18 match of 2024.

He also averaged 21 disposals, eight contested possessions and 5.5 score involvements at the under-18 national carnival.

“That burst out of stoppage, (Sid) has that,” Bickley said on SEN SA.

“I’ve seen him play at South Adelaide. He finds the ball, he takes off with his legs, he handballs it to someone he then keeps running. He’s a chain-type player. Zak Butters style.

“I think he’s very much the style of player Adelaide need.”

Bickley floated Sandringham Dragons star Murphy Reid as another on-baller who had the attributes Adelaide needed.

“It is a consideration, the local talent versus the (interstate) talent,” he said.

“And it’s a big consideration. But if you’re marking it out of 100, that might be 10 per cent of 15 per cent.”

Bickley said he expected the Crows to resist any temptation to split pick 4 for two first-round selections.

Draper recently rubbished speculation he did not want to be drafted to Adelaide due to how some of the Crows younger talent had been treated.

Originally published as AFL Draft: Former Crows captain Mark Bickley backs Adelaide to select SA’s top talent Sid Draper