List Mgmt. Welcome Harley Reid (Pick 1, 2023 National Draft)

[eaglevision]

 

[RookiePick]

I think more people need to realise he's only 14 and in his 2nd year of playing football ever.

Inches?

 

[THE A5]

Inches?

The one true BSD

 

[Dark Sharks]

This is what completely pisses me off. He's completely shot himself in the foot. You can't build a fitness base in season. You just can't. It makes this year a complete write off for him, and puts us under pressure we do not want, nor need.

I dunno about "complete write off" cob. We're 3 games into a 23 game season. Hooley dooley.

If he's not fit enough to play mid, which appears to be the case, it just means he develops and spends more time up forward rather than on ball. Annoying but is what it is.

It's not the end of the world. We knew he wasn't an endurance athlete so him carrying on with a linear trajectory of AFL fitness wasn't guaranteed, particularly after a ruined pre season. Dustbin was the same. Took him ages and ages to get the fitness to be able to play as a pure onballer. And he'd cop flak for it.

And FWIW I was certainly one of the more concerned, even pissed off posters on this board regarding Harleys pre season conditioning. Everyone took the copium and said "it's all good it's all good" and low and behold here we are. No Yeo so no mentor for him either so there's little wonder he's had the start to the year he has.

Doesn't mean anything is wasted or that Harley can't still be a BSD in another position. Get Gross, Hall and Allan into the midfield and move on.

Also worth noting he bumped his game time up to 85% vs Cockburn. That's up from 79% vs Lions and 78% vs suns. He's building.

 

[Astro7]

Why did Harley turn up out of shape from the off-season?
I've never heard the reason for it.
(and that photo of him with a gut, is that for real?)

 

[squashface]

He’s been underwhelming but I really can’t stand our own fans giving it to him online and etc. it’s the exact reason I joined this platform +10 years ago when our own fans (facebook) started turning on the likes of Shuey,Darling and Gaff in 2013/14.

The media fuels this and tbh they would have loved that he’s having a slump as they can now generate more headline and more importantly have new sources material to print now that he’s not doing great.

He's not even playing a whole lot different to last year. The aggression is the same - remember in Round 1 v Port when he decked one of their spuds and everyone loved it. The whole "he's distracted" stuff is incredibly overplayed - he is just not as fit which is reducing his ability to impact multiple contests, that is literally it. And even with that his numbers are pretty similar.

I have no idea why we aren't letting the 19 year old build into his second season before writing him off.

How are the other players in his draft class going atm?

 

[Goroyals22]

 

[THE A5]

He's not even playing a whole lot different to last year. The aggression is the same - remember in Round 1 v Port when he decked one of their spuds and everyone loved it. The whole "he's distracted" stuff is incredibly overplayed - he is just not as fit which is reducing his ability to impact multiple contests, that is literally it. And even with that his numbers are pretty similar.

I have no idea why we aren't letting the 19 year old build into his second season before writing him off.

How are the other players in his draft class going atm?

Yeah and his lack of fitness criticism is there but people do forget that the development of young kids ain’t linear and it’s not uncommon for kids to have second/third year blues. Look I don’t think his current fitness standards have him projecting to be much better than last year but I do think the lack of good senior mids hurts his case. There’s no one in that midfield close to elite. At least had he had 2-3 decent mids he’d be able to coast behind them and still produce the 3-5 bug moments he’d produce in games like last year.

I’m actually leaning on Warner being a must get now that Yeo is on the verge and TK and the rest of the midfield is hopeless. He desperately needs that support

 

[HoneyBadger35]

The most recent two tweets in my timeline.

I really hope Footy Classified also gives it a run or I won’t know what to make of it!

And they say there’s too many footy shows these days.

 

[stallon]

Im going to wait for Yeo to get back before judging Reid much tbh.
Reid played his best footy when he had someone else who was big and aggressive alongside him

He didnt come back the fittest but then again this was his first off-season as an established AFL player on decent money

 

[Barrybran]

View attachment 2268016

The most recent two tweets in my timeline.

I really hope Footy Classified also gives it a run or I won’t know what to make of it!

And they say there’s too many footy shows these days.

I didn't mind Lethal's comments but there were a lot of assumptions going on. The gist though is that you figure out who your players are and tap into into that. I can't imagine that Footy Classified added anything worth listening to.

 

[kerrazy]

Yeo can't come back soon enough. One of the last players we want to do an injury for us. We need him.

 

[DorothyG]

The only reason this continues to go on and on is because people keep it going, so I'll respond and then leave it for now.

This is what completely pisses me off. He's completely shot himself in the foot. You can't build a fitness base in season. You just can't. It makes this year a complete write off for him, and puts us under pressure we do not want, nor need.

What you want from your young players is for them to be better than they were the year before. Not only is Harley not better, but he is substantially worse is almost every statistical category.

There's trying, and then there's really trying. Harley tries as long as the ball is within a 10 metre radius. He tries in and around the contest. After that, there's a lot of jogging, and half efforts.

Anyway... This has been an eventful back and forth, but there's not a whole lot more to be said.

Watching Reid play against a midfield next week that is truly elite in both offence and defence will be super interesting.

And I'll say this time and time again.

Mr 5x AA, premiership player Jeremy McGovern did the exact same thing. Had an off season diet based solely of beers and thai food and came back to the club the size of a barn.

He was punished by the club and it never happened again.

He isn't be first and won't be the last player to party a little hard in the off season

Once you forgive l, especially it being his 1st proper off season. If it happens again, than yeah sure there maybe some serious underlying issues that need to be resolved.
We ain't contending this year/next year/the following year. So would you rather him the learn the lessons now, or in 5 years time when? Its not a write off year, that's a little dramatic. He will (fingers crossed) learn alot about the minimum standards required, working on his skill/footy IQ etc etc

 

[twce13]

How is it a dig ?

 

[InTheWings]

Saw a commercial on Fox today that I hadn't seen before. Sorry I can't upload the clip, but here is a screenshot.

Harley certainly is getting in the sponsorship $.

 

[Dark Sharks]

To be fair, Optimum Nutrition has legit been the best protein on the market for 20 odd years now, so it's not like he aligned himself with a slouch sports brand there.

Also worth mentioning Rowell was also the poster flog for Career savers ASICS boots and (poor man version of Harleys) Australian Sports Nutrition supplements at the same time in his career as well.

In fact I'm not even sure Red Bull was even playing at the time, might have been when he was out long periods with injury... Point is, it's nothing new with Reid.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

The Hawks can take Oscar. I really doubt they'd have any draft capital to get Harley. He commands AT LEAST three firsts.

 

[Elite Pete]

View attachment 2268016

The most recent two tweets in my timeline.

I really hope Footy Classified also gives it a run or I won’t know what to make of it!

And they say there’s too many footy shows these days.

And the on the Couch said all the talk from WA media is Harley Reid. They all run a story tonight and theyll run one tomorrow now with the Mitchell news. Like they have the last 6 weeks

 

[pantskyle]

Hawks are no chance for Reid. They also couldn't afford to pay him. They'll have quite a few players getting ready for big paydays.

 

[Spod]

The Hawks can take Oscar. I really doubt they'd have any draft capital to get Harley. He commands AT LEAST three firsts.

yep every team would have Harley as "a target" but without a couple of guaranteed top 5/10 picks, good luck to them

 

[happy_eagle]

What impact would a poor second year have on Harley's trade value though?

 

[stallon]

What impact would a poor second year have on Harley's trade value though?

Might bring him back from an entire 3 years worth of draft picks available back to a bottom 8 club plus a good player, back down to just the first rounders + the good player.

 

[Bacchus]

Yeo can't come back soon enough. One of the last players we want to do an injury for us. We need him.

Along with Gov and Waterman

 

[Astro7]

View attachment 2268016

The most recent two tweets in my timeline.

I really hope Footy Classified also gives it a run or I won’t know what to make of it!

And they say there’s too many footy shows these days.

Jonathan Brown making the point Harley is playing in the worst team in 25 years, and if he was playing for a great team like Hawks, imagine what he'd be playing like!?
So he's copping a lot of sh*t AND playing in a sh*t team.
Apart from Vic bias, it's a valid point and might be the eventual catalyst for Harley to leave, unless there's major improvements by season's end.
And yes, the irony is not lost of Brown mentioning the intense media pressure in a two team town, when Vic media can't shut up about him.

 

[eaglespremiers]

Not sure that social media comments should be used as evidence for anything ever.

Just goes to show that you can never trust faceless posters on the internet.

 

[We_The_West]

Jonathan Brown making the point Harley is playing in the worst team in 25 years, and if he was playing for a great team like Hawks, imagine what he'd be playing like!?
So he's copping a lot of sh*t AND playing in a sh*t team.
Apart from Vic bias, it's a valid point and might be the eventual catalyst for Harley to leave, unless there's major improvements by season's end.
And yes, the irony is not lost of Brown mentioning the intense media pressure in a two team town, when Vic media can't shut up about him.

It's almost as if the media forget that the best players in the draft get taken by the worst performing clubs... every year.

These elite youngsters need to understand that they are not going to a finals contending team and realistically will have to grind it out for 3+ years before enjoying prolonged success.

You would think that after watching the exodus of talent leave the GC and GWS over the early years that something would have been done.... oh wait, it was... they established elite academies that allowed them to draft home grown talent that are less likely to ask to be traded.

Now that the academies are working and the VIC talent drafted to GC and GWS want to stay there, we have to change the academy rules to make it fairer for VIC clubs...

How about locking down on the players' ability to select their club of choice to be traded to? Homesickness and mental health are important but if you want to go to home to VIC, then let the best offer from the 10 teams win.

There's a constant theme of the best talent from the underperforming teams being targeted by the top performing teams to top up their lists. If the AFL cared about competitive balance then they would start treating the competition as a National competition.

The entire competitive balance review came up due to Damien Hardwick complaining how hard it is being a coach of a non-VIC club having come from a powerhouse VIC club like Richmond...

Tell that to the Freo supporters who are still waiting for their 1st premiership.... after 30 years!

Freo have only played 17 finals and won 7 of them in 30 f**king years... where is their support and academy?