"The furthest thing from funny" - Brad Scott slams Essendon Bombers star for his disrespectful comments on a podcast

Essendon Bombers coach Brad Scott believes Sam Draper's comment on Clubby Sports' 200+ podcast was disrespectful to the Bulldogs.

“I’ve got a big call about the Doggies. If Bevo’s still there, there’ll be some players requesting trades” said Draper

Draper then mentioned players like Jack Macrae, Caleb Daniel and Bailey Dale possibly requesting trades if Luke Beveridge remains at the club till 2025.

Scott said the ruckman's comment was not what the team needed as they were still working hard to earn back their respect since the 2012 damaging supplements scandal.

After the win against the West Coast Eagles, for which Draper was absent, Scott said;

"I was really disappointed in Sam, and he's very, very clear how disappointed I was,"

"He thought he was in an environment where he thought he was being funny and I said, 'Mate, it's the furthest thing from funny. It's disrespectful”.

“Our club has had to fight extremely hard for a long period of time to earn respect back in this competition, and that's just one thing that eats away at that. So I was really disappointed in him.”

It's not about hanging him out to dry, but he knows that he did the wrong thing and [it was] absolutely not the reason why he didn't play.

"I was just really, really disappointed that we've taken so many steps forward in earning respect that we gave a bit back."

Despite his disappointment, Scott still believes the game has space for eccentric players like Draper and says his absence was unrelated to the comments.

“I think the game’s got plenty of room for a bit of colour but I think this is the thing with Drapes – he adds massive colour. I see a lot of four and five-year-olds running around with mullets with number two on their back of their Essendon jumper and I love it,”

“He’s a very marketable type of guy.He’s a loveable guy. He’s just such good fun to be around and a good clubman.”

“But there is a line. In terms of what is colour, what is extroversion and what is disrespectful. I was just really, really disappointed that we’ve taken so many steps forward earning respect that we gave a bit back.”

Luke Beveridge stated that the Bombers reached out to him and were remorseful on Draper's behalf. He added that he's willing to give the ruckman the benefit of the doubt, hoping this incident was a one-off.

---

Essendon climb to top four spot with win over West Coast Eagles

The Bombers sing the club song after winning the round eight AFL match between West Coast Eagles and Essendon Bombers

In a fiercely competitive match, Essendon came away with the win with a 6 point margin despite missing ruckman Draper.

Scott confirmed Draper's battle with a knee injury as the reason for his absence from the squad list. He said:

“The competition’s on a knife’s edge and you just can’t take players in that aren’t 100 percent or close to it,” he said.

“I went through this last year with him – we just wanted to break the cycle. So provided his knee is fine, he'll play next week.”

Skipper Zach Merrett had an excellent game with three goals to his name. The Eagles did try to fight back but lack of concentration cost them at the end, with veteran Jamie Cripps delivering a free kick to the Bombers after shoving Nic Martin.

The win puts Essendon just six points behind league leaders Sydney and Geelong.