The No.1 question being asked of this year’s top pick Harley Reid

It’s often been said Harley Reid could be a flight risk. The teenager expected to be the No.1 pick in this year’s draft laughs when that is put to him. He does not like flying.

“Funny you say that, I’m not a huge fan of planes,” Reid told this masthead. “It’s gonna be a part of wherever I go. You’ve got to fly, so get used to that real quick, I hope.”

There is intrigue over which club likely No.1 pick Harley Reid wants to play for.Credit: Eddie Jim

Whether Reid is indeed a flight risk is no laughing matter. It’s a question many in football are asking and one West Coast, who hold the top pick in this year’s draft, must find an answer to. Only Reid really knows.

The 18-year-old from Tongala, 25 kilometres from Echuca in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley region, has said he will play for whoever takes him next month, even if it means leaving the family home for the first time and heading to the other side of the country in Perth.

If the Eagles are not convinced Reid will stay, they can trade away pick one for multiple picks, presumably to use on West Australian top-five prospect Daniel Curtin. In a sign of who else might be interested, Reid said the Eagles, North Melbourne, Hawthorn, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney have all interviewed him.

Harley Reid is expected to be the No.1 pick in this year’s draft.Credit: Eddie Jim

“I don’t care where I go,” Reid said at the AFL draft combine at the MCG, where the leading prospects for this year’s draft are being interviewed by clubs.

“For every single one of us here, just to have the opportunity to get drafted. If you go pick one, 50 or whatever, at the end of the day you’ve still got the same opportunity. And wherever the club is, it’s a huge opportunity and experience to have.

“With me moving, it’s going to be a challenge either way. It’s gonna be a challenge moving to Melbourne. It’s a four-hour flight plus a 2½, three-hour drive to Melbourne to get home [from Perth], or 2½ hours down the Hume [Highway].

“It’s easy to do, like it’d be a lot more convenient and easier, but again, I don’t care where I end up at the end of the day.”

Such has been the attention on Reid this year, there was a stir in August when he “liked” a post on Instagram questioning Adam Simpson’s future as Eagles coach. Reid, who is regularly stopped by members of the public for photos, said he had pressed “like” without even reading, but the optics of him seemingly endorsing such a post at a time when there were doubts over his preparedness to head west were not ideal.

“I scroll on Instagram, I’m liking before I even look at the posts,” Reid said. “I would never look at the post that I like. I got the message stop liking posts.

“I was like, surely I’ve just liked a post, what’s so bad about it? But then I look into it and I read the post and what it was about, it probably wasn’t the best idea.

“I hadn’t read it. I didn’t even know that post existed until that come out.

“It wasn’t good, was it?”

Clubs are naturally wary of the “go-home factor” when it comes to draftees from interstate, particularly with their early picks. No club can afford a repeat of the Jason Horne-Francis scenario when the No.1 pick from 2021 returned home to South Australia after just one season with North Melbourne.

Reid has a surprisingly strong view on the issue.

“I probably didn’t really look into it too much, but obviously one year, it’s not good,” Reid said. “You’ve had the opportunity to go pick one, they’ve picked you up and whatever pick you go to a club for like one year it’s a bit of a stretch.

“You got to settle in for a bit, and Adelaide 45 minutes on a plane, it’s nothing huge. I’m pretty sure you could settle in and I’m pretty sure the resources, and support a club would show for you and have for you to get past that stage and get to a stage where you feel comfortable with the people around you.”

Reid speaks of the romance of being part of a side that wins a flag after starting from rock bottom, but is envious of Nick Daicos, the No.2 pick in 2021, winning a flag in his second year, and Brisbane’s Jaspa Fletcher playing in a grand final in his first.

“To be there when they’re on the bottom, to be there when they’re on the top and holding that premiership cup, that’d be perfect,” Reid said.

“But again, like you’d also love getting drafted to Collingwood, just played a grand final. You get in there, go for another flag. You know what I mean?

“I live for the big moments. I’d love to play finals in my first year. That’d be something I’d set to be a part of. We look out on the MCG, the biggest game of the year is played here.

“You look around, it was like 96,000 here on the weekend, it’d be huge to run around out there with the atmosphere and the noise. I feel like that’s another thing that motivates me to get going.”

Reid speaks with deep fondness about his hometown and local football club. Playing for Tongala this year, he said, “will always have a place in my heart”. Being the No.1 pick would be as much an honour and privilege for himself as it would be for his home town.

“Behind the scenes, a lot of people have done so much for me,” Reid said. “To go pick one for my community, for me, for my family, I reckon it’d be something that I’d thrive on and everyone would thrive on because of the support they’ve done for me, it’s like they’re on the ride with me.

“Everything I do for myself is for them. For everyone.”

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