Speculation Harley Reid [OOC 2026]

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All time.

On the current list:

Gaff and Shuey for starters.

Carlton came at Petrucelle last time he signed a contract, I think WB were also into him.

Duggan's had clubs try to pry him out in the past,

Hawthorn had some interest in Culley last year.

Of the past players, pretty hard to find any relevant news about it(mostly all recent about what they're doing currently) however Of the Victorians that ended up leaving, either by being replaced by better players, delisted, etc, only Judd & Gehrig went on to actually do anything significant at AFL level.

Oh, Mitch Brown was one to St Kilda, although WCE didn't let him go. They ended up getting his twin Nathan from Collingwood instead.

There were players traded out obviously(Morrison to Collingwood, McConnell & McKinley to North, A.Edwards to Richmond, S.Selwood to Geelong(FA)) although none of them every achieved the 'lofty' heights they had at the Eagles.

Clearly the club does a good job of retaining players they want to keep and facilitate trades for those they consider no longer required.

Judd is literally the only outlier to that in the club's history. S.Selwood would've been a close second, but his foot injuries had pretty much ended any chance he had of returning to his elite status when he was club champion.
 
If he does end up leaving, it'll be simply because he wants to be closer to home. Nothing more than that.
Harley has a swagger and attitude, perhaps from always being the best player on ground through his juniors. I personally don't like it but I'm biased as hell.

He's a winner, always has been. I'm sure his junior teams were pretty successful and now he's playing for a losing club which looks to be in that position for the next few years at least. It will be interesting to see how he copes with that.

I wonder if at their draft interview they asked him whether he would go for the favourite or the underdogs in a random scenario.
 

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Harley has a swagger and attitude, perhaps from always being the best player on ground through his juniors. I personally don't like it but I'm biased as hell.

He's a winner, always has been. I'm sure his junior teams were pretty successful and now he's playing for a losing club which looks to be in that position for the next few years at least. It will be interesting to see how he copes with that.

I wonder if at their draft interview they asked him whether he would go for the favourite or the underdogs in a random scenario.

Agree that he's a winner but anyone determined to go #1 would be very understanding of the type of team they are going to, I imagine.

Not everyone picked up at the top of the draft is luck enough to be an Ashcroft, JUH or Daicos/Northern academy prospect.

The flip side of that is that if you go mid-late first round then yes, you're likely to go to a better team but due to the AFL's equalisation(I say that very loosely...), you're going to a much stronger/middling side that's either a) harder to break into, or b) at their peak and on the way back down.

Theoretically, if you're the best talent then you're simply better off going to the worst team. Not only will said team spend a few years stacking talent, you're also likely to be paid huge money to stay.

Sure, it sucks to be losing games for the first few years but if the environment and culture is good, then players are far more likely to stick it out.
 
Might be wise to get him a stablemate.. Gold Coast were blessed with Rowell and Anderson.

I had a quick look through previous number ones and no-one has displayed the arrogance that Reid has. (Again don't get me wrong, the arrogance helps his game) I just think that he might be predisposed to having contempt for losers/losing.

I don't think the extra money would be a factor. He will get handsomely paid regardless.
 
Might be wise to get him a stablemate.. Gold Coast were blessed with Rowell and Anderson.

I had a quick look through previous number ones and no-one has displayed the arrogance that Reid has. (Again don't get me wrong, the arrogance helps his game) I just think that he might be predisposed to having contempt for losers/losing.

I don't think the extra money would be a factor. He will get handsomely paid regardless.
He already lives with his best mate(Jason Gilbee, works for the club and plays WAFL Eagles) and is also close mates with Long and Chesser from back home. Long used to pick him up and drive him to training/games back when Long was in his draft year, going from what Long said in interviews around draft time.

People seem to think he'll get massively homesick but he's already got 3 of his best mates in WA already.

I mean, if his sister can move to Brisbane to go to uni by herself without being a sporting superstar, I'm sure he can manage being away from Tongala, whilst being one of the highest paid players in the AFL on his first contract extension.
 
Jay Clark and Ralph have both said he's apparently happy to extend his contract into a 4th year already but no rush obviously.

I'm sure all Vic clubs will make some kind of play but this fixation over his contract is weird, when to my knowledge, none of the other draftees with a 3-year contract from last year have extended yet either.
I think there is a likelihood West Coast could be a bottom 5 side in the next 4 years. At some stage, a player wants to chase glory and success . Premiership success is a big motivator in my opinion.


It's relevant if the only 'high profile' VIC player you have ever had in 35 years was Judd and he left.

You certainly can't claim awesome retention if there's virtually no evidence of it, because there's not a massive sample of it.

I'd probably classify Shuey there, he certainly had some interest here and there over the journey, but nothing like rabid interest, probably because of a fair few injuries.


Looking into it, it's actually bizarre how few quality Victorian players WCE have had since their inception.
Im going to add Andrew Gaff, who has had a pretty decorated career. If you play 278 games as a Victorian for a WA based side, you can call him one of the 'higher profile players'. (even though he has struggled last 3 seasons).

Michael Braun (recruited from Vic Country), another one from regional Victoria that stayed put.

David Wirrpanda

4 Victorian players that have played 200+ Games all at West Coast. And that has been over a record since their inception of 1987. So its an incredibly rare breed. Harley Reid will be a 200+ game player, so if you look it at that from that perspective you probably say it would be a once in a decade sort of player. If you had said to any West Coast fan, if he played say 100 games at West Coast, you would probably have taken that prior the draft? Chris Judd ended up playing 134 games for West Coast. If I stand to be corrected, Braun , Gaff and Wirrpanda, especially the last 2 were highly sort after by Victorian teams at their end of their careers but they stayed put.


5th of the Victorian cohort is Adam Selwood, who played 187 games. 6th all time and still on the list is Liam Duggan on 175 * games. Duggan probably of the 6 players mentioned who have played more games as Victorian Eagles, won't end up his career as highly decorated as players mentioned above mainly due to his W/L record. Im not sure if Duggan would have got any sweeter or better deals if any Vic team came chasing on his door either. His been a serviceable player.
 
I think there is a likelihood West Coast could be a bottom 5 side in the next 4 years. At some stage, a player wants to chase glory and success . Premiership success is a big motivator in my opinion.
The only way this happens is by a heap of players leaving. If things play their course we wont be that low for that long, even north was able to keep their senior players(the ones remaining) long enough to get things turning the other way, im counting Mckay in this too btw, he stayed long enough.

Look at North, theyve been bottom for a long time now and its simply by having enough good picks for long enough that they start to go up the ladder. Hawks a few less top 5 picks but not a dissimilar story.

If you were a younger player looking to go to a club in Vic North and the Hawks would be right at the top of their list.
A year ago North would not have been on their list at all
 
I think there is a likelihood West Coast could be a bottom 5 side in the next 4 years. At some stage, a player wants to chase glory and success . Premiership success is a big motivator in my opinion.



Im going to add Andrew Gaff, who has had a pretty decorated career. If you play 278 games as a Victorian for a WA based side, you can call him one of the 'higher profile players'. (even though he has struggled last 3 seasons).

Michael Braun (recruited from Vic Country), another one from regional Victoria that stayed put.

David Wirrpanda

4 Victorian players that have played 200+ Games all at West Coast. And that has been over a record since their inception of 1987. So its an incredibly rare breed. Harley Reid will be a 200+ game player, so if you look it at that from that perspective you probably say it would be a once in a decade sort of player. If you had said to any West Coast fan, if he played say 100 games at West Coast, you would probably have taken that prior the draft? Chris Judd ended up playing 134 games for West Coast. If I stand to be corrected, Braun , Gaff and Wirrpanda, especially the last 2 were highly sort after by Victorian teams at their end of their careers but they stayed put.


5th of the Victorian cohort is Adam Selwood, who played 187 games. 6th all time and still on the list is Liam Duggan on 175 * games. Duggan probably of the 6 players mentioned who have played more games as Victorian Eagles, won't end up his career as highly decorated as players mentioned above mainly due to his W/L record. Im not sure if Duggan would have got any sweeter or better deals if any Vic team came chasing on his door either. His been a serviceable player.

That's 4 players outside of Judd and Gehrig in 35 years.

It's sort of proving my point.

And outside of Gaff, I can't really recall a massive feeding frenzy around them at any point from Victoria.
 
Dermott Brereton talked about it on one of the footy shows around the time of the draft. A fair bit was made about it due to Smith going around clubs with a medical cert, stating he 'couldn't go interstate.

Similar stuff was spoken about it on the panel shows when Perkins was drafted also.

No I can't find clips on Youtube about it from 2018/20 respectively.
I'll take your word for it.

But I certainly don't remember anyone calling Smith or Perkins "brave"
 

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Smith should have been made to sit out a couple of seasons. Surely managers would tell their clients to not do something like that.
But in extreme circumstances like a sick relative that would be OK.
 
I know West Coast have been really supportive of managing Reid and allowing him extra time in Victoria etc. But home eventually rings home for alot of players. You look at players like David Mundy , a rare case of a Victorian, settling in WA for his lifetime.

I see West Coast , if they dont have major success in the next 3-5 years, I think the decision may be a bit more easier for Harley Reid. Would West Coast begrudge him if he left the Eagles in a better state than when he arrived? Im talking about possibly making the Finals , when he leaves them. Also maybe winning an Eagles Best and Fairest. I honestly dont they would.

And Reid from an article I read, does strike me as a very much a home boy.


I dont think any Victorian team would phase him.
Rare....😂😂😂
Do some homework.
 
That's a fact

You might want to check the history of the West Coast drug culture
Yep, that's why Judd continued to hang out with Kerr and have him as a close friend after he moved to Vic.

Must've been so sick of it he continued to hang out with one of the main blokes caught up in it.
 
That's a fact

You might want to check the history of the West Coast drug culture

Not a fact at all. I have an impeccable source from the time and Judd simply left due to family/friends and money. If there was a further factor it was WC's handling of his groin injury in his last year (he thought they were running him into the ground), but that was a bit of chicken/egg scenario as they knew he was leaving and hence didn't care about doing the right thing for him.

Judd leaving had absolutely nothing to do with the WC drug culture. Judd was keen for Kerr to join him at Carlton and Kerr had a massive offer that he was going to take, but stayed when WC trumped it (ironically with some of the money that would have gone to Judd).
 

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Speculation Harley Reid [OOC 2026]

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