Adelaide has injected more speed and power into its midfield by landing highly talented onballer Sid Draper with Pick No.4 in the Telstra AFL Draft.

The 18-year-old from South Adelaide – who is a lifelong Crows fans – said it was a dream come true to join the Club after his name was called on the opening night of the draft at Marvel Stadium.

Draper is one of the most explosive midfielders in this year’s draft class with top-end speed and agility to match his ball-winning ability.

His rise to the No.4 draft pick comes after two very strong seasons which started in 2023 when he captained South Adelaide’s Under-18 team to the premiership, was named SA’s MVP at the national championships and made the All-Australian team as a bottom-age player.

This year the powerful inside midfielder with good stoppage craft proved himself at senior level as well by averaging 22 disposals and five clearances in six SANFL games after overcoming some early-season injury woes. He also averaged 21 disposals a game for SA at the national championships as captain.

Crows National Recruiting Manager Hamish Ogilvie said the Club was ecstatic to secure Draper, who spent a week training at West Lakes last pre-season as part of the AFL Under-18 Academy.

“We’ve obviously been tracking Sid for a long time and we couldn’t be happier that he’s now a Crow,” Ogilvie said.

“As with every draft we have our talent order and we take the best player and to get Sid at Pick 4 is a fantastic result for our footy club.

“He’s a great character and a leader from his time at South Adelaide, and he as a player he has AFL attributes that are so important in today’s game.

“He’s tough and can win his own footy and is explosive when he gets it, it’s a perfect addition to our midfield mix.

“This is just the start of Sid’s journey, his next steps will be to get to work with his new teammates for his first AFL pre-season and build from there.”

Draper said his emotions were a mixture of “excitement, joy and relief”.

Adelaide has Picks 58 and 74 when the National Draft resumes on Thursday night.