Essendon fans will rejoice in the fact that star ruckman Sam Draper is expected to re-sign with the club.
Draper has attracted heavy rival interest from home state South Australia, with Adelaide preparing their warchest to lure the former Soccer player.
The 26-year-old has been in the sights of the Crows for a long time, hoping to add further depth to the ruck position, with Reilly O'Brien finding himself out of the senior side at times.
It also comes as the South Australian club moved Kieran Strachan to the inactive list to sign ex-Swan Lachlan McAndrew in a desperate attempt to support O'Brien.
Draper's imminent decision is likely to be toward the mid-way point of the season, given Herald Sun's Jon Ralph's report that he'd like to see how he works with fellow ruck Nick Bryan.
"He's the Essendon free agency holdout, (but) I can tell you tonight, fantastic news, he will sign at the Essendon Football Club," Ralph reported live on Fox Footy's coverage of Tuesday's pre-season clash between the Bombers and Geelong.
"The only reason he's holding out is he just wants to see how he goes with (fellow ruckman) Nick Bryan in the first six-to-eight weeks of the season.
"There is no way he will move back to Adelaide; he's really encouraged by a massive pre-season, he's dropped weight, and so I think that deal will still be six years (long), and reasonable money there.
"He wants to stay, he loves the city, he loves Brad Scott โ great news for Essendon fans."
Ralph also reported that Draper could receive a payday of "probably 800 (thousand dollars)", despite his career-form not necessarily warranting the figure.
Bombers supporters got a glimpse of what the Draper-Bryan pairing could look like, with the former spending more time inside 50 than usual.
Bryan's development into Essendon's No.1 man skyrocketed after his impressive outing, collecting 17 touches, nine marks and a goal from 49 per cent game time.
The 23-year-old has been forced to bide his time since joining the Tullamarine club with Pick 38 in the 2019 National Draft, waiting patiently for his turn as Todd Goldstein and Peter Wright were chosen before him.
