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The West Coast Eagles have finally started making decisive moves to officially get the rebuild rolling, and all anyone wants to do is use them as a punching bag and target Harley Reid.
Modern-day coverage seeks to take the easiest possible route, which is to pile on rather than to analyse.
Do you know why they’re struggling? It’s probably because the talent on the list isn’t good enough yet.
Do you know what the media’s solution to that is? Both criticise the young player within an inch of his footballing life, who’s only a week shy of his 20th birthday, while simultaneously almost begging him to leave so the columns can be filled all season long and into the future.
Make no mistake, if Reid was to leave early in his career, it will be the fault of the media, not the football club.
Here’s a bit of a spoiler – the Eagles know they’re bad, and they’ve tried to make changes to work on that.
Now, all the decisions haven’t been great. The treatment of Oscar Allen after meeting with an opposition team is a great case in point that it’s not all smooth sailing, but the Eagles are trying to rebuild properly now.
For a couple of years, this club was sitting on its hands, and the stakeholders were a mix of complacent and frustrated. The way to escape from the mire that is self-inflicted inaction is to start to make changes.
Andrew McQualter was appointed coach. Mixed opinions ensued, but they made that decision.
Tom Barrass wanted to leave, so they tried to maximise their return. Sure, they picked the wrong first-round pick, but at least they future equity across the board.
The Eagles wanted experience and to target a local player with their first pick.
Now, should they have traded pick 3 to land Liam Baker, Matt Owies and pick 12? That could’ve got the former Blue pretty freely, Baker is going to be their captain next year, so for that leadership, that can be understood.
Bo Allan wasn’t a draft favourite last year of this column, but the logic is there. Jack Graham joined the club too, another from McQualter’s time at Richmond.
Overall, the Eagles actually recruited really positively.
Now, Baker and Graham aren’t needle-movers and ideally aren’t starting midfielders when the team is seeking to take strides forward, but as rotational pieces with a team-first mentality and where their actions speak louder than words, they were the right targets.
Allan again remains to be seen, but they’ll see him as a future captain. Jobe Shanahan slid significantly but was one of the top key forwards in his class and has talent in spades. Tom Gross was worth investing in in the 40s, and Lucca Greggo’s skillset could have him as a steal, taken just two picks later.
Hamish Davis could plausibly play 150+ games as an unheralded wingman who sets standards for this group with his work rate, and not a peep has been mentioned about him after debuting as a sub against GWS.
Harley Reid chats with an umpire after giving away a free kick. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
They signed Malakai Champion as an exciting Category B rookie prospect, and they gave Sandy Brock a second chance at an AFL career as a pre-season signee.
Usually, a player like Brock is someone you try to debut as a third tall, make the most of his clearly AFL-level skills and intercepting while not giving him too much responsibility. He was forced to play on the Coleman Medallist, who kicked nine.
That’s kind of the point of all this.
The Eagles’ list simply isn’t good enough at the moment, which is why they hired McQualter and why they finally started making significant moves.
People believed that signing the two former Tigers, in particular, was done for the Eagles to try to push up the ladder, yet it’s clear they’re at the club to set standards.
To be disappointed in the Eagles’ first month of the season is to have set standards way too high. They have to get more experience into the kids. Teams full of kids lose.
It’s almost worth just forgetting that the Eagles have been struggling for a while because 2025 really does mark the start of the proper rebuild. It’s nigh-on impossible to make all the changes that must be made at the very start of a rebuild.
There are a fair few experienced players in the current team that simply wouldn’t play for opposition clubs, particularly across the half-back line, but are playing out of necessity to fill spots.
Jeremy McGovern’s absence is enormous, he’s meant to be the conduit between coach and youth in defence. Without him, it’s horrible.
Elliot Yeo, too, not that his body can be relied upon. But him being fit would let Baker be another coach down back. Outside of them, it’s dire.
This week, McQualter has dropped Tim Kelly and is seemingly giving he keys to Clay Hall and Tom Gross in the middle, alongside Baker, Graham and Reid. Kelly’s put up decent numbers so far, but his actions make him seem disinterested.
His type of player looks so good on a great team, but the opportunities to be lairising on a bad one are limited and, optically, disagreeable.
So that’s another big move made by a young coach. Standards are everything in the formative stages of a coach’s career, and those who aren’t aligned aren’t selected.
That’s why the GWS game was so disappointing. Without the captaincy armband, Liam Duggan might’ve been in trouble. Tom Cole might be staying in because there aren’t many ready options outside of him.
But the Eagles have shown decent signs, too. They were fantastic against the reigning premier away from home for the first half. A decent bounce on a Liam Ryan shot on goal in the second half, and they might’ve caused a huge upset.
They couldn’t have any control in the Derby, but the first quarter at least looked like they had some fire.
Liam Duggan and Elliot Yeo of the Eagles. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
They’re not winning enough of the ball, but when they do, they’re trying to move it forward and get as much meterage as possible, ranked first in the league. They’re well above average for defensive half-pressure acts, with the obvious caveat that that’s where the ball spends most of its time, but they’re trying.
If anything, inexperienced players are trying too hard and getting sucked into the ball without winning it first. It leaves gaps everywhere.
Archer Reid and Jack Williams have looked great during Allen’s period of disinterest ahead of his likely exit. Ryan Maric is a great young talent who is settling behind the ball, and will appreciate the inflated stats, but his use his good.
Reuben Ginbey’s working so hard as a defender and his efforts to try and instigate a counter will only serve to benefit the group. Tyrell Dewar’s positioning as a hard-working winger doesn’t go unnoticed, Brady Hough’s doing his absolute best and for all the criticisms and negative focus, Reid’s out there and doing what he can wherever the coach puts him.
The frustration is obvious, though.
So yes, there are periods of time where this group looks listless and apathetic, as per the Giants game. That’s the hard part for McQualter to navigate, given that it’s driven largely by a lack of effort and desire by Eagles’ veterans who have been around the club for years and aren’t really wanting to sit through chapter 2 of a rebuild attempt.
The Eagles will get adequate compensation for Allen come season’s end. They’ll change their skipper, but most importantly, they’ll have added 15-20 games of experience into up to a dozen young talents who can plausibly be a part of the next West Coast team that challenges for September action.
West Coast cannot fast-forward through this period, so embracing the current pain for the longer-term goal is a must.
It’s hard to swallow for fans, and even the media, but this time, there’s an actual, clear path to achieving success in time, unlike the last couple of seasons.
So, instead of trying to push Reid out of the club, the focus should be on the other obvious young talent on the list and how Reid can help guide the team into the future.
The Eagles are right to put forward historical offers to him. The thing about treating people or groups as punching bags is that at some point, they start to punch back.
The Eagles are finally trying to do the right thing, and it’ll hold them in good stead – Harley Reid should be the face of it.