has presented counter-proposals to the Eagles<\/a>, with one reportedly worth in the vicinity of $24 million over 11 years. At the same time, Victorian clubs are also willing to offer Reid long-term deals reportedly worth over $2 million a season. Hawthorn, Geelong and Essendon have been among the rivals clubs most consistently linked to the Bendigo Pioneers product.<\/p>\nReid\u2019s manager, Nick Gieschen, recently returned from a trip to Perth, which included discussions over Reid\u2019s future with West Coast.<\/p>\n
Harley Reid of the Eagles. Picture: Paul Kane\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s On The Couch, Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph said Reid was keen to re-sign with the Eagles, but only if the deal included the security of a long-term trigger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWest Coast has a $24 million decision to make on Harley Reid,\u201d Ralph told On The Couch.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will sign in a heartbeat if they (the Eagles) accept his counter-offer, which is two years to 2027 and then a nine-year contract extension. So in all, about $24 million over 11 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will not sign a two-year deal at West Coast. He would ask for a trade. I think his view is there is guaranteed money in Victoria \u2013 and if he only signed for two years, he\u2019d be passing that up. He\u2019s not prepared to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s aware this salary cap goes up 37 per cent over the next five years. It\u2019s a massive decision for West Coast: Back him in as a generational player or realise he will ask for a trade at the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
McQualter praises ‘selfless’ Harley Reid | 09:47<\/p>\n
Asked whether the Eagles should financially invest in Reid to that extent, seven-time All-Australian Nathan Buckley cheekily suggested \u201cI wonder why he\u2019d be \u2018signing in a heartbeat\u2019\u201d, before declaring: \u201cI personally don\u2019t think that is a decision West Coast should make.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re being held to ransom in some shape or form by this player for that amount of money, that means you\u2019re probably going to get two or three first-rounders back. Maybe that depth is going to be better for you than a Harley Reid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buckley was challenged by fellow panellist Jonathan Brown about whether the Eagles would prefer known commodities rather than picks \u2013 aka \u201cuntried players\u201d. But Buckley said he\u2019d be prepared to take that risk.<\/p>\n
It led to a live TV debate between the On The Couch panel members.<\/p>\n
Harley Reid of the Eagles. Picture: Daniel Carson\/AFL Photos via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Nathan Buckley: \u201cThe other piece to this is \u2013 and I don\u2019t have the answer to this, in terms of culture and character \u2013 is Harley Reid the character you want to build this club around? Because if he is, absolutely offer him that deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack Riewoldt responded: \u201cIs there enough evidence to suggest he\u2019s the character? He\u2019s had one (full) pre-season and, by all reports, has come back in shape that isn\u2019t of an AFL standard. We constantly have conversations about him being hot-headed \u2013 and the caveat is he\u2019s young and learning \u2013 are you willing to risk $24 million on that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonathan Brown: But didn\u2019t we have the same conversation about Luke Hodge? He might become a legend in the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
JR: Well I didn\u2019t \u2026 Can you see Harley Reid turning into Luke Hodge? <\/p>\n
JB: Well, to me he looks like he\u2019s a competitor like \u2018Hodgey\u2019. It looks to me like he has a thirst for the contest. Whether he\u2019s got the same leadership qualities, that\u2019s going to be a hard level to reach. But to me, you can\u2019t lose these generational players \u2013 and clearly he was the best player (of his draft class). With the benefit of time, with some maturity he\u2019ll learn to become a professional with all the pressure that\u2019s going to be steeped on him. I wouldn\u2019t be letting a player of this quality leave because he\u2019s going to come back to hurt you. And I think players mature at different levels. All these players, just because they\u2019re professionally paid, doesn\u2019t meant they\u2019re professionals at the age of 18.<\/p>\n
Later, four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis added: \u201cThat\u2019s the hardest thing. How many players do we see come into the system now who are ready to go, who are chiselled, speak really well, no indiscretion \u2026 There\u2019s a soft spot for me for players like Harley.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a little bit like you (Brown) \u2013 and the money will sort itself out \u2013 but he is a player we think will be generational. I\u2019d be staggered if they lost him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Coast has a $24 million contract call on its young Pick 1 star \u2013 and whether the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,8406,64,63,689,55,639,3423,26506,26515,26513,26516,26517,14348,26521,10124,12927,2105,17976,1823,681,19052,26519,26512,26520,26511,26508,26518,677,26510,3473,46,26509,26514,7889,85,4441,26507,11236,660,7067,3439],"class_list":["post-27349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-andrew-mcqualter","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-waterworth","tag-bendigo-pioneers","tag-call-splits-greats","tag-contract-call","tag-counter-offer-contract","tag-daniel-carson","tag-disappointing-loss","tag-four-time-premiership","tag-fremantle-dockers","tag-fresh-details","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-hawk-jordan-lewis","tag-jack-riewoldt","tag-jon-ralph","tag-jonathan-brown","tag-leadership-qualities","tag-luke-hodge","tag-massive-counter-offer","tag-nathan-buckley","tag-nick-gieschen","tag-nine-year-contract-extension","tag-oceania","tag-panel-members","tag-paul-kane","tag-perth","tag-quality-leave","tag-rivals-clubs","tag-salary-cap","tag-sports","tag-syndesmosis-injury","tag-trade-call-splits","tag-trade-news","tag-victoria","tag-west-coast-eagles","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}