Essendon is set for a big pre-season after the club’s external review found that the playing group lacked fitness during the 2022 season.
President David Barham told club members that the review recommended that higher training standards be driven, while SEN's Garry Lyon believes incoming coach Brad Scott will expect his players to be ready to go on day one of pre-season.
“To the Essendon boys, his (Scott’s) comment to them at the best and fairest was, ‘I look forward to seeing you on the first day of training’,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.
“If that’s not the greatest red flag for you to turn up in the best nick you ever have in your life, then you’re dumb.
“If we hear of an Essendon player that turns up on the first day of training and it gets out that his skinfolds are as big as they’ve ever been, then he probably shouldn’t be there.”
SEN’s Kane Cornes believes ruckman Sam Draper in particular will be “flying” ahead of 2023 after witnessing him prepare for pre-season in Adelaide.
“I was track watching the other day and big Sammy Draper was doing laps,” Cornes said.
“We’ve got a 2.2k loop just near the Adelaide Oval here.
“He looked as fit as I’ve ever seen him, he looked like Max Gawn.
“Big Sammy, he was flying, I thought, ‘Okay, he’s heeded the warning’.”
Draper, now 24, could be set for a big 2023 campaign now that he has 43 career games from three seasons under his belt.