Essendon have been forced apologised to the Western Bulldogs after star big man Sam Draper made some outlandish comments on his podcast.
Draper turned the heat on the Bulldogs with some explosive comments on his 200 Plus Podcast two weeks ago.
The ruckman, who is on the podcast with North Melbourne big man Charlie Comben and journalist Nick Butler, said that players could leave the club if Beveridge remains coach.
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“I’ve got a big call about the Doggies,” he began.
“If Bevo is still there (then) there’ll be some players requesting trades.”
Draper didn’t name any names, but Caleb Daniel, Jack Macrae and Bailey Dale were all mentioned by the co-hosts.
When it came to Bailey Smith, Draper confidently said: “Well he’s gone.”
Smith, who remains sidelined for the entire season after rupturing his ACL, is out of contract at the end of the year.
All-Australians Daniel and Macrae have been out of favour at various stages throughout the season, while Dale was relegated to the starting sub against the Bombers in Round 6.
The comments have since been edited out of the podcast and Draper admitted he had “post pod anxiety” when speaking on this week’s episode.
The club were made aware of the comments in the past 24 hours and reminded Draper that it’s not what the club stands for and also contacted the Western Bulldogs to apologise.
Draper has had an eventful start to the year. In the Bombers’ narrow win over Adelaide, Draper was at the centre of controversy when he wasn’t penalised for holding the ball in the final seconds despite diving on the ball.
It made for an epic finish in front of a packed crowd at Adelaide Oval, who were still reeling when Draper, barely a minute later, was already having a laugh at the decision not to pay holding the ball.
Celebrating away with teammates Jake Stringer and Nick Hind, Draper mimicked himself on the ground from only a minute ago by diving on an imaginary ball on the ground.
“He’s stirring up the crowd, I tell you what,” Channel 7 commentator Matthew Richardson said.
Draper revealed he was subjected to death threats on social media in an ugly fallout to the drama.