There was a good article about our NGA forward today (
apologies for the paywall) which discussed a fair bit about Draper's journey in our NGA academy this season.
Jasper Skaife who is also in our academy, had a reasonable season and lead the way for WA as a key forward at the state champs but Draper has gone under the radar due to injury. I liked what I saw of him last season and he had bigger wraps on him at that point but illness and injury meant he rarely made his way on the field this season until finals.
At 197cm and with extremely good athletic ability, he is a very good chance to earn his way into a Category B position with us at the draft. Hopefully the injuries have kept him out of top 40 calculations and we're able to easily scoop him up (along with Skaife) as a developing key forward.
Top-three WA combine results
Standing vertical jump
Baxter Philip (Perth): 76cm
Griff Julian (West Perth): 74cm
Josh Draper (Peel Thunder): 70cm
Running vertical jump (right)
Baxter Philip (Perth): 95cm
Conrad Williams (Claremont): 89cm
Josh Draper (Peel Thunder): 83cm
Running vertical jump (left)
Josh Draper (Peel Thunder): 87cm
Baxter Philip (Perth): 85cm
Toby McQuilkin (South Fremantle): 79cm
20m sprint
Kaleb Smith (East Fremantle): 2.881 seconds
Baxter Philip (Perth): 2.911
Griff Julian (West Perth): 2.994
Agility
Toby McQuilkin (South Fremantle): 7.8 seconds
Baxter Philip (Perth): 7.871
Kaleb Smith (East Fremantle): 8.052
2km time trial
Toby McQuilkin (South Fremantle): 6:40
Baxter Philip (Perth): 6:41
Conrad Williams (Claremont): 6:42