Essendon chief on trade and draft plans, Harley Reid’s interest in the club

Is Harley Reid interested in an Essendon move? The club’s chief executive has his say — plus more on Sam Draper’s future and the Bombers’ dual top-10 picks.

Essendon chief executive Craig Vozzo has declared the club “open for business” with its two top-10 draft picks and believes Harley Reid is still considering them as a potential suitor.

Vozzo said the club had put a strong offer to unrestricted free agent Sam Draper but admitted the club was unsure of whether he would leave as decision-time approaches.

The Herald Sun revealed this year that the club’s decision to reward Jye Caldwell last year with a fresh deal pushed Draper into the unrestricted free agent category.

So if he decides to move to the Lions on a five-year deal — compared to the Dons four year deal with a fifth year trigger — they cannot match the deal.

Sam Draper has a big decision to make ahead of the 2026 season. Picture: Getty Images

The Dons will face difficult decisions at the end of the season with Elijah Tsatas keen for more opportunities and the impressive form if its four mid-season draftees creating a list crunch.

Vozzo said as part of the pre-match on SEN and 3AW that the club was hopeful Draper decided his future was at Essendon.

“We have put a pretty strong offer to Sam which indicates we want to keep him,” he said.

“He’s in the decision making phase, we are doing all we can and hopeful in the coming weeks (he will commit).”

Coach Brad Scott said last weekend he preferred to build lists through the draft rather than buying players but the Dons are still keen on Reid if he decides to request a trade.

“We are out to market strongly,” Vozzo said.

“We are open for business. Whatever we can do to extract the best outcomes, picking early, splitting picks, trading for high end talent in areas of need. We are definitely open to all sorts of machinations.”

Harley Reid’s future is still in the air. Picture: Getty Images

When asked if Reid had told the Dons he was not interested, Vozzo said that was clearly not the case.

“Quite to the contrary,” he said.

Vozzo said he had called Reid’s manager Nick Gieschen this week to clarify reports that the Dons were not interested in his man.

“We had a bit of a laugh the other day when it came out. I rang Nick Gieschen personally to apologise. There was something about Essendon not being happy with regards to Harley.”

But he conceded the club’s string of losses off a disastrous injury list might put off some players.

“Possibly, you don’t know what people think. You try to create an environment for people to thrive. And we are focusing on how we keep getting better in development, leadership, culture.

“The lack of success no doubt has an impact and part of the free agency debate is top four clubs getting the head up when you look at better free agents. It’s definitely an issue but we can only control getting better internally.”