Leigh Matthews has questioned whether Harley Reid’s epic debut season has put an unwanted burden on the former No. 1 pick as the AFL legend opened up on how he’d help guide the young gun.
Reid’s off-ball antics in games have been a hot talking point this season as the emerging Eagle has appeared frustrated, coming under scrutiny for engaging too much with opposition players.
It included the 19-year old receiving a $1000 for pulling his finger to Brisbane fans in Round 2, while Reid scuffled with Fremantle players including Caleb Serong in Sunday’s western derby.
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Speaking on Fox Footy’s On the Couch, Matthews wondered whether Reid bursting onto the scene had in some ways hurt him.
“If you go back 12 months he was in fantastic form as an 18-year old manchild making senior players look like little kids really,” Matthews said.
“Sometimes I wonder where if you play too well too early if it’s not great for your long term. Because all of a sudden he’s in a bad spot. He looks like he’s playing a bit angry and over aggressive.”
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The four-time premiership boss urged West Coast to map out how to best work with Reid moving forward to manage his behaviour.
“I go back to 20 odd years ago when ‘Browny’ (Jonathan Brown) got reported a few times early in his career. In the Brisbane Lions terminology it was personality profiling,” Matthews continued.
“An enforcer is stubborn and ‘Browny’ had a lot of enforcer in you in the early days. For ‘Browny’ it was controlling the aggression so he didn’t get reported.
“But it’s working with the kid, not yelling at him .. you don’t tell enforcers what to do because they’ll put their back up. You’ve got to work with them and ask for their help in a way.
“Working with Harley and someone logically saying: ‘This is not helping your playing form’. It shouldn’t be that complicated to be honest that he’s allowing a naturally aggressive attitude to overflow a bit too much.”
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Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley added: “He clearly hasn’t lost his talent, but there seems to be an element of frustration.
“Someone somewhere called him the second-year blues.
“What you’re talking about is if you excel in your first 12 months it can be really hard to back that up because progress isn’t linear.”
Meanwhile Brown queried the impact of West Coast’s struggling position and the intense spotlight on Reid.
“He’s in such a unique situation that it’s hard to relate to,” the triple premiership Lion added.
“That two-team town and he has the media focus on him from the get go and an enormous amount of pressure.
“And he’s played in one of the worst teams we’ve seen in the last 25 years.
“If he was playing for Hawthorn imagine how much he would be dominating … there’s an underlying frustration, because to me he looks like a competitor.”
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