The 26-year-old with one of the best kicks in the league has quickly been scouted by opposition coaches as one of the main Lions to stop.
This season he has faced a raft of opposition forwards intent on stopping his influence in igniting the Lions’ attack from the back half.
On Saturday night against Port Adelaide, it was Tom Logan who put the clamps on Drummond, keeping him to just 13 touches.
Just seven days earlier he was having little impact against the Western Bulldogs, so Lions coach Michael Voss moved the man with the laser left boot on to a wing.
And the results were instant.
He kicked two quick goals in the fourth quarter, and three for the match, to give the Lions a sniff of victory they did not previously have.
However, Drummond said he didn’t expect to be thrown on to a wing or up forward as the finals approach.
“Opposition teams do things, and tag you, and we just needed to do something to mix it up,” he said.
“I probably don’t think it will happen too often, I see most of my footy probably being played at the defensive end going forward.
“We’ve got a few guys like Ash McGrath and Sam Sheldon who has played forward and back and it’s handy having a few guys who can play a number of positions.”
Drummond now has 63 games to his credit and has formed part of a solid Lions defensive unit in the past couple of seasons.
With vice captains Daniel Merrett and Jed Adcock, key defender Joel Patfull, and the versatility of Joel Macdonald and Ash McGrath, they have an underrated unit that is among the league’s best.
Drummond is a big part of that, showing on countless occasions his penetrating kicking can kick start the Lions.
He had 25 possessions and 11 marks earlier this year in a best on ground performance against the Swans, and was also damaging against pacesetters St Kilda (27 touches) and Geelong (29).
He said working through the problems he faced as a marked man was enjoyable.
“I’ve talked about things with Leppa [Lions assistant Justin Leppitsch] a bit,” he said.
“I might not always get many possessions, but I’ve just got to figure out how else I can help the team. I’m just trying to work through it, but I’ve really enjoyed the extra challenge.
“I dare say our back six is solid and I think it’s very important for a team to be successful, to have a solid back six.
“We’ve missed Jed, but Ash McGrath is having a great season and with someone like him running from defence it makes it very hard for opposition teams to stop everyone.
“We’ve played a fair bit of footy together the last few years and it does take time to learn how the others play.
“Dan and Joel Patfull generally take the two key forwards and it’s up to me and Joely Mac to learn when we can help out and I think we’ve got a lot of improvement in us.”
Drummond said the Lions had been buoyed by their dramatic come-from-behind win over Port Adelaide and now had their eyes squarely fixed on a win over the Swans to wrap up a home semi-final.
He said the final three quarters showed what they could do if they “knuckled down”.
“But we can’t forget how we started,” he said of the 40-point first quarter deficit.
“If we do that going forward we won’t get away with it against those better teams.
“If you give Sydney a head start, you’ll be in for one hell of a tough night.”
