West Coast coach hits out at 'unfair' talk around top AFL prospect Harley Reid
Adam Simpson has implored media to let Harley Reid footy do the talking amid reports the top prospect is reluctant to move to WA.
Harley Reid, the prospective No.1 pick in this year's AFL draft, has been defended by West Coast Eagles coach Adam Simpson amid reports the 18-year-old would be reluctant to move interstate to begin his AFL career. Reid, who is plying his trade for the Bendigo Pioneers in the under-18 Talent League (formerly known as the TAC Cup), has also claimed those reports are inaccurate.
The Eagles are leading the race for the first pick in the 2023 draft amid a horror season once again plagued by injuries to key players. Simpson said he had sympathy for Reid's position, admitting he himself would have been reluctant to move up to Brisbane had they drafted him when he joined the league in 1993.
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Reports of Reid's supposed desire to remain in Victoria did prompt some degree of criticism. Former premiership Eagle Will Schofield suggested the teenager needed to accept the fact that entering the AFL draft meant any one of the eight teams outside of Victoria had as much right to pick a player as the 10 Victorian clubs.
Nevertheless, Simpson also pointed out that despite two dismal seasons in the past two years, the Eagles had a track record that would be the envy of any club in the league, let alone many of the Victorian clubs. If he isn't picked first, the likes of North Melbourne or Hawthorn would be at the top of the queue - however Simpson did agree that nominating for the draft meant understanding that an interstate move could be on the cards.
“Just leave the kid alone … it’s a little bit unfair to be putting this much pressure on someone so young, albeit he’s a very talented player,” Simpson said. “When you’re up the top end of the draft, you’re going to go to a side that’s at the bottom end of the ladder.
“One thing I do know about West Coast is their finals percentage is probably top three or four in the last 30 years, four premierships, most financially stable club in the country, and we’ve just ticked over 100,000 members. So, it’s not the worst club to go to, and we don’t lose too many players once we get them.
“But I don’t think it’s fair to push him on this or his management. I feel sorry for the situation because he’s got a big career ahead of him.”
Harley Reid's manager hits back at draft preference report
Reid's manager, Nick Gieschen, hit back at reports from Sam McLure on The Tradies podcast earlier this week in which he suggested word was getting out to the Eagles that the 18-year-old would be the 'best version of himself' if drafted closer to home. Gieschen said that while a move to Western Australia would be a big one for Reid, who hails from the country Victorian town on Tongala, he had been firmly focused on putting his best foot forward for the Pioneers at this stage.
“I don’t think the hesitation is West Coast as a club or as a playing list, it’s more about for Harley, but also for any young Victorian or any young player that has to travel, it’s more of a distance. It’s Tongala, which is where Harley lives, which is north of three hours from the airport, all the way over to Perth,” Gieschen told SEN Breakfast.
“He he hasn’t given it a heap of thought. Obviously he knows that it’s coming and there is a possibility that that’s where he could land, but it’s also exciting, if it was to happen that way, West Coast are down the bottom at the moment but so were Brisbane Lions, you know, seven, eight years ago, so were Melbourne footy club when, when they went and got ‘Clarry’ (Clayton Oliver) and (Christian) Petracca, and some of these boys.
“There’s also potentially great opportunity to lead a club back and be a part of a really successful rebuild.
“I understand that there’s been a lot of talk about it, he hasn’t given it a heap of thought, let’s just see what happens over the next couple of months and see how he finishes off the year. West Coast might not even have pick one.”
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