Essendon gun Sam Draper could be out for a while with Darcy Parish to return
Essendon will lose a gun ruckman but get a best and fairest winner back for a trip to Perth this weekend.
Essendon coach Brad Scott says he won’t “emotionally blackmail” free agents Mason Redman and Darcy Parish to stay at the club as he revealed an uncertain immediate future for ruckman Sam Draper.
Parish is set to play his first game since round 8 against Fremantle on Saturday but questions remain over Draper, who has been battling a hip issue that didn’t resolve itself over the club’s bye last weekend.
Scott said he was “not as positive” about Draper playing the Dockers and conceded the Bombers weren’t sure just how long the issue could linger.
He said Draper was too important to play him while he was still hampered by the injury.
“He has been getting out there and playing but we’re really concerned because he’s a dynamic player and we want him out there at his best,” Scott said on Wednesday.
“He has been struggling with a niggle, but unless he presents really well and proves he is 100 per cent right to go, we’ll probably err on the side of getting him right. We’ve been consistent this year, we want players out here at their best.
“It’s better (after the bye), but it’s not perfect. At this stage of the season we are better off getting that right, as long as it takes.
“It could be next week, it could be longer. The only reason I am being vague is because we don’t know ourselves.”
Scott confirmed Essendon legend Simon Madden had been involved in a pitch to star defender Redman, who is out of contract at the end of this season and in the sights of South Australian clubs trying to lure him back to his home state.
Parish, a club best and fairest winner and All-Australia, is also one of the most high-profile free agents this season, and Scott said the duo had “big decisions to make” and was hopeful he’d sold the picture of a bright club future to them both.
“We’re well aware free agency presents opportunities for players and sometimes dilemmas,” Scott said.
“I think we’ve done a pretty god job so far of showing them the track we are on. I am not going to go down the path of trying to coerce or emotionally blackmail them into staying at Essendon. They have to want to stay for the right reasons.”
Scott said using Madden was part of the club going the extra mile to keep an important player.
“He’s a famous number 27 and we’d like Redders to reach those heights,” Scott said.
“Clubs often make pitches to players from other clubs but don‘t sell their own. That’s an important part of our responsibility to be explicit about what it is we are building here … and his role in that.”
