Cricket
Racing
Rugby
League
Motorsport
Football
Golf
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
The "big decision" the Eagles should make on Harley Reid
Jaiden Sciberras • April 29th, 2025 8:00 pm
The West Coast Eagles have failed to win a game in 2025, losing all seven of their opening matches off the back of Sunday afternoon’s 50-point loss to Hawthorn.
With Richmond and North Melbourne both finding results and remaining competitive, the Eagles must make some serious changes if they want to avoid yet another wooden spoon.
Since joining the club as the first overall pick in the 2023 National Draft, midfielder Harley Reid has only played in five wins from 27 contests with the Eagles.
This year, the gun 20-year-old has experienced a dip in form, down in disposals, tackles and clearances from his debut season while also operating at lower efficiency.
With the Eagles struggling for form, and their prized possession failing to deliver, Western Bulldogs great Brad Johnson has called for a major shake up at the selection table.
“For me, there is a big decision now after watching him that the West Coast Eagles need to make with this player,” Johnson told SEN’s Sportsday.
“Over the context of the game, his first half wasn’t great, gives away a number of free kicks against.
“He actually hurt them a few times in the fact that they were building a little bit of pressure and he gave away a late free kick for a hit or a block off the ball that shouldn’t have happened, and the umpire blows the whistle and just relieves the pressure valve.
“His second half was okay, but it was more what were seeing early in games when the heat is on.
“He just seems to be playing angry at the moment. In my mind only, my particular opinion on it is that a circuit breaker needs to happen from a West Coast Eagles point of view.
“Maybe that is putting him back into the reserves for a period of time and just letting him play. I know that’s been said in the past, and I know some will agree with it and some wont. ‘He is the number one draft pick you can’t put him back in the twos’.
“In my mind it doesn’t matter where you are drafted, you can be first round, second round, doesn’t matter.
“I was a first rounder, I was dropped within 10 games of playing senior footy, then you go back, you learn some lessons and then you fight your way through to come back and you’re a better player off the other side of it.
“From my experiences it helped me immensely.
“I think for a Harley Reid, for the way that he wants to play footy at the elite level, he needs to work on a lot of things to be able to do this successfully and have a long-sustained career
“West Coast may be wrestling with the point if we drop him does he leave and all these sort of questions, I don’t think it really matters.
“Harley Reid, for him as a footballer, needs to go and learn a lot of things in terms of his work rate, his professionalism in terms of on field and not giving away those free kicks against.
“I think it’s the best time do to it with a young player, the response is what West Coast Eagles would want to see, and the football public over there who watch him week in week out, who want to see an outstanding performance from your number one draft pick more consistently over a season not just one really good quarter and then three average ones.
“How do you get Harley Reid to be the player that the West Coast Eagles want him to be.
“90 per cent of gun players that have played our game have all had a stint in the early stages of their career, in the twos. There is nothing wrong with making a decision like that.
“He will hate it, but that is part of it.
“For him to be successful in the AFL world, and to live up to the type of player that he wants to be himself, there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the background.”
With a number of young Eagle midfielders awaiting their chance, all eyes turn to Andrew McQualter and the selection committee ahead of their bottom-end clash with the Demons this Saturday night.
