like what we saw against Fremantle on Friday night<\/a> \u2013 are things he needs to look at. He must adjust his technique and\/or mindset.<\/p>\nBut my frustration lies more with the run-of-the-mill free kicks \u2013 both for and against \u2013 involving Reid, such as when he\u2019s at stoppage and the ball in his hands. <\/p>\n
It seems like when there\u2019s a 50-50 free kick potentially against Reid, he\u2019s penalised more often than not. There\u2019s no grey area for him.<\/p>\n
Harley Reid of the Eagles. Picture: Paul Kane\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Take the first free kick in Friday night\u2019s derby. Reid laid a hip and shoulder on Matt Johnson \u2013 delivered just as the Docker was kicking the ball \u2013 and a down-field free kick was paid. There was a millisecond in it.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to the third quarter and the same thing happened, this time when Reid was the ball-carrier. He kicked the ball forward before Sam Switkowski bumped him milliseconds later. Reid hit the turf \u2026 and \u2018play on, nothing to see\u2019.<\/p>\n
Reid multiple times on Friday night took players on and was aggressive with ball in hand \u2013 which is how he plays \u2013 yet wasn\u2019t rewarded with high free kicks when they were there. It feels like a common theme for Reid, who doesn\u2019t seem to be awarded many high frees.<\/p>\n
I also heard intriguing audio on Friday night while working for Fox Footy from the umpires comms. It was at a defensive 50 stoppage for West Coast, so Reid was a defensive midfielder. Now, in no world should umpires be primarily focused on Reid in that setting, because he\u2019s the one who\u2019s manning up. If you\u2019re focusing on someone, it\u2019s a forward or a midfielder that\u2019s going for the goals. But I heard repeatedly from the umpires: \u2018I\u2019ve got Harley, I\u2019m watching Harley\u2019 \u2013 all while Reid was standing there by himself.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t understand why there should be an increased focus on Reid \u2013 and all these calls \u2013 and non-calls \u2013 show that. How is that a thing in our game?<\/p>\n
ALLOW HARLEY TO PLAY LIKE HARLEY<\/p>\n
Reid draws attention from everybody.<\/p>\n
From the opposition, because he\u2019s West Coast\u2019s best player.<\/p>\n
From Eagles fans, because of the way he approaches the contest.<\/p>\n
Dockers dominant win in Western Derby 63 | 03:17<\/p>\n
From opposition fans, because opposition fans love to hate the player that\u2019s doing well against them.<\/p>\n
I believe some players get more attention from umpires than others. It\u2019s why some players get more Brownlow votes than others: They play in a way that catches your eye.<\/p>\n
Umpires are human, that\u2019s fine. But to the point where, in my opinion, they\u2019re umpiring Reid differently when he has the ball or is approaching others with the ball? That\u2019s an issue. Like, a massive issue.<\/p>\n
Yes, he has a swagger and confidence and aggression that others don\u2019t. But that shouldn\u2019t mean a free kick is not a free kick if he\u2019s taken high. It shouldn\u2019t mean that a free kick is given against him when it\u2019s simply not there.<\/p>\n
West Coast must make it a priority to allow Harley Reid to play like Harley Reid \u2013 like a Toby Greene, Zak Butters and James Sicily. These sorts of players are different to Marcus Bontempelli and Patrick Cripps, but they\u2019re just as good and valuable \u2013 and they\u2019ve all been captains of their respective clubs this year.<\/p>\n
Clubs like the Giants, Port Adelaide and Hawthorn all know that\u2019s what they get with these stars \u2013 and it\u2019s something they have to continually deal with. I don\u2019t think any of those players have ever fully got a handle on it, because you still see glimpses of them flirting with the line.<\/p>\n
Harley Reid of the Eagles tackles Sam Switkowski of the Dockers. Picture: Janelle St Pierre\/AFL Photos\/via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
For instance, Sicily went over the edge earlier this season against the Western Bulldogs and the Hawks ended up losing the game, in part, because Sicily couldn\u2019t find the balance. Butters is a chirper, a talker, a scrapper \u2013 but he then does the brilliant things.<\/p>\n
But more often than not, you\u2019re going to take the good over the bad.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why the Eagles shouldn\u2019t be trying to curtail Reid\u2019s aggression and physicality because he\u2019s given away too many free kicks. You should be allowing him to play the way he wants to play.<\/p>\n
GROWING UP<\/p>\n
Reid, overall, has shown a lot more maturity this year. The simple reason for that? He\u2019s a year older.<\/p>\n
I think people forget how young he is still. He\u2019s only 21, so he\u2019ll continue to grow, improve and wise up as the years go on.<\/p>\n
The difference between this year and other years is Reid\u2019s efforts and aggression are regularly directed towards the ball and at clearance. In the past 10 weeks, he\u2019s averaged 7.9 clearances per game \u2013 ranked No.1 in the competition. He\u2019s playing outstanding footy in an ordinary side.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll ever see Reid playing or acting like a Bontempelli or a Cripps. He\u2019s always going to be on this edge of what\u2019s right and wrong and giving free kicks away because of how his on-field style. But that\u2019s how he\u2019s become such an elite player.<\/p>\n
Reid is a future captain of West Coast and a future Brownlow Medallist. He shouldn\u2019t have to change the way he plays because umpires feel a need to adjudicate him differently to others. He\u2019ll reap the benefits of making sure he stays true to himself.<\/p>\n
WHERE TO NOW?<\/p>\n
Still, the Eagles must strongly pursue clarity over whether Reid is being officiated inconsistently \u2013 because it\u2019s fundamental to ensuring our sport is fair. You can\u2019t have instances where a free kick isn\u2019t paid because of who the player is or how they play.<\/p>\n
Eagles suffer 70 point loss to Dockers | 09:54<\/p>\n
The trouble we\u2019ve got is players and coaches are, not only disallowed from criticising, but even speaking about officiating. No one at West Coast can speak about it. You\u2019re not going to hear about it from the umpires. The AFL, I think, will try and deal with this behind closed doors.<\/p>\n
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon on Monday said Reid was \u201cworth the price of admission\u201d but insisted he was not umpired differently. Then when asked if he had any advice for Reid to fix his for-against free kick imbalance, Dillon said with a smile: \u201cStop giving away free kicks.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s the free kicks he isn\u2019t getting that\u2019s the issue. So saying \u201cdon\u2019t give away free kicks\u201d is a bizarre response.<\/p>\n
The AFL must strongly look at this. If not, the Eagles must keep pushing until it does.<\/p>\n
Because it\u2019s more than just by the eye now. It\u2019s definitely happening.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a different set of rules for Harley Reid than there is for others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harley Reid is the most inconsistently umpired player in the competition by that far, it\u2019s not funny. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-827906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827906","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=827906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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