Harley Reid tipped to shine as West Coast Eagles coach goes public with massive change

Andrew McQualter says Harley Reid has a lot of work to do in pre-season as the coach implements a new game plan around the No.1 draft pick. McQualter has high hopes for the youngster who came into the AFL with massive expectations but still managed to exceed what almost anyone could imagine in his maiden season in 2024.

And the pressure on the 19-year-old's shoulders is set to go up another gear in 2025, with McQualter rolling out an entirely new style of play, which will centre around Reid as a key member of the Eagles midfield while also having the ability to move the star player into the back half as required. McQualter, who spent last year as an assistant to Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin after a successful stint at Richmond, knows Reid will face even more attention from opponents in his second season but has backed the talented youngster to shine in his new system.

"He's going to have a huge pre-season learning a new game plan, which is a challenge for someone in their second year," McQualter said on Monday, as he took charge of training for the first time. "There will be no doubt some time to adapt to that but we'll just look for him to keep doing the fundamentals of the game really well. We'll try to set him up in a role where he can really shine and the expectation of him will be to give back to the group as well.

"We'll put things in place but he'll also learn to deal with it himself. I'm pretty sure he handled himself pretty well for a large part of last year. We'll put some mechanisms around him but we'll also have high expectations of him to be able to fight through his own battles."

Harley Reid to play several positions in 2025 campaign

Reid kicked 10 goals from 20 games last season and showcased his incredible raw talent when he burnt off Melbourne star Christian Petracca to kick what was later voted the goal of the year. And while he will again spend most of his time in the midfield next season, McQualter flagged the young gun will also train in the back half, so he has the option of deploying him anywhere across the entire pitch.

"We'll definitely start with the midfield," McQualter said. "He'll be a midfielder and in terms of secondary position, I'm really quite open to it. Whether it's forward or back, I think he's got a skill set to play all the lines, so we'll just see how that evolves over time."

Harley Reid's West Coast contract talks continue

It is expected that Reid will stay at West Coast in the immediate future, however, earlier this year the 19-year-old admitted he had the worst birthday of his life due to him being away from his family in Victoria. If Reid decides he wants to move back home, there would be no shortage of Victorian clubs interested, although a lucrative new deal at the Eagles would likely convince Reid that his current club are right for him, at least at the current stage of his career.

As it stands for next year Reid will be paid a $130,000 base salary and $4000 per game. If he plays 18 or more matches, he would add $60,000 to his base salary, so he could realistically make around $300,000 in his second season. While West Coast list boss Matthew Clarke revealed last month that he's been in regular discussions with Reid’s management over an improved new deal.

The club has reiterated throughout 2024 that retaining the services of the star youngster is a club priority. Clarke told The West Australian that the club is keen to get a new deal over the line "sooner rather than later" but noted that they won't be putting any extra pressure on the Victorian product to make a quick decision.

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Reid's next contract is expected to see him join the million-dollar club. And earlier this year 7News Perth's Ryan Daniels hinted the fee could be even closer to $2 million a season.

"Semi-informed gut feel would be a couple of years extension, maybe go to five years (total). Free agency would obviously come at the eight-year mark, he’s not going to go beyond that, that’s pretty clear,” Daniels previously said on Triple M. "The money is going to be significant, it’s going to be more than a million dollars a year. That’s just the market-dictated value and then also the salary cap is going to increase, the new CBA. I know some people are saying $2m a year, I don’t think it will quite get to that in the early stages, but at some point in his career, I think Harley Reid will be earning $2m a year."

with AAP