AFL Draft 2023: Why Harley Reid will not return to Victoria if taken by West Coast

Harley Reid’s camp has rubbished talk he is pushing back on a move to West Coast. Here’s why the young star might not even come back if he is taken by the Eagles.

Beneath all the chatter about whether Harley Reid wants to stick it out in Perth if West Coast takes him first in November’s draft is one simple fact – the Eagles don’t lose top Victorian draftees.

Future Norm Smith medallist Luke Shuey was plucked from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs with the 18th pick in 2008 and since then, 25 other Victorians have been called over the Nullarbor by West Coast.

Harley Reid is expected to be drafted by West Coast. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Of the 26 who have built their new life in Perth, only one – Koby Stevens – made his way back home through a trade.

Including Shuey, five Victorians have been selected by the Perth powerhouse inside the top 20 in the past 15 years and none have left, with Andrew Gaff notably coming closest before rebuffing North Melbourne’s monster offer in 2018.

The club’s highest profile Victorian draftee, Chris Judd, forced his way out at the end of 2007 after six seasons, a year before Shuey was drafted.

The choice is largely out of Reid’s hands as to which jumper he will wear in his AFL debut and his manger Nick Geischen gave the clearest indication yet on Friday that the goalkicking midfielder was not going to pressure his way to a club in his home state.

“Harley will go wherever the draft takes him,” Geischen told SEN on Friday.

“If he does end up in Perth, yes it is a big move and a lot to take in but that is not any different to the other interstate players that have been drafted (there).”

Geischen said it wasn’t West Coast’s uncompetitive playing list but the distance between Perth and Reid’s home in Tongala – a mere 35 hour drive – that would present any problems for the teen.

Luke Shuey was sent West in the 2008 draft.

But as Eagles coach Adam Simpson said this week, when the Eagles get their claws into someone they like “we don’t lose too many”.

Cross-town rivals Fremantle have lost just two blue-chip Victorian talents taken inside the top 20 since the Shuey pick.

Drafted fifth overall, Adam Cerra won a move back home and is now in career-best form with Carlton, while Hayden Crozier (pick 20) also returned east to the Western Bulldogs.

Picked later in the draft order, Lloyd Meek (traded to Hawthorn), Viv Michie and Ed Langdon (both Melbourne) and Darcy Tucker (North Melbourne) have each been traded back to Victoria in the last 15 years.

Both Perth-based clubs have historically leaned towards taking homegrown talent and Fremantle chose Jye Amiss and Neil Erasmus in the 2021 first-round, with Victorians Josh Gibcus and Ben Hobbs taken soon after.

A few picks later in that same draft however, West Coast plucked Sandringham Dragons youngster Campbell Chesser at 14, when Claremont duo Angus Sheldrick and Jacob van Rooyen were still on the board.

Just like their Victorian counterparts, the Perth clubs will back themselves to win over interstaters if they have enough ability – Caleb Serong, Andrew Brayshaw and Hayden Young have all been handed purple jumpers on draft night as top-10 choices in recent years and the trio haven’t shown any signs of wanting a return back east.

Will Reid stay in WA if he goes there in November’s draft? Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos

Premiership West Coast defender Will Schofield posted an impassioned plea for Reid to take on the move to Perth on social media this week

The Geelong-raised retired Eagle said he had warmed to West Australia and declared it was the best state in the nation after living there since he was drafted in 2006.

Part of Simpson’s reasoning for West Coast’s suction-cup ability to keep talent in the doors was the club’s strong run of success and no doubt playing in 13 finals, including two grand finals, made acclimatising to the Perth sun easier for Schofield.

Success might be further away than at any point in the 36-year history of the Eagles but unless something drastic happens before November, Reid may be the first step in the club’s next great run.

Originally published as AFL Draft 2023: Why Harley Reid will not return to Victoria if taken by West Coast