North Melbourne’s win in the final round of the 2023 AFL season is looking increasingly worse for the club.
That’s according to former Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd as he heaped praise on West Coast Eagles youngster Harley Reid.
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In their final game of the year, North sat on the bottom of the ladder with one hand on the first overall pick in the draft.
The equation was simple, lose and you were guaranteed Reid, the unanimous first pick in the draft who was widely considered a superstar-in-waiting.
Instead North stunned the footy world as they ran away to clinch a 35-point win over the Suns and leapfrog the Eagles into second last place on the ladder.
The win was widely slammed by footy fans who couldn’t believe their eyes that they threw away their shot at a potential generational talent in Reid.
After the opening five games of the 2024 season, the result is looking even more bleak with Reid taking the footy world by storm.
“This bloke has had an unbelievable effect on that whole footy club,” Craig Hutchison said about Reid.
Lloyd said he’d never been one to argue for a club to tank, but with Reid the writing was on the wall for North and they butchered it.
“I hammered Hutchy for the thought that you do not lose a game of football, but you look on in a months time and you forget who won that game of footy but you don’t forget what this guy could be potentially for the next 15 years.
“To me West Coast have been non-existent, but now you turn on the television for them.”
Cornes asked: “In hindsight do you think they should have thrown that game and rested (Nick) Larkey?”.
“I have been adamant and against that but I still think to myself, for one win versus catapulting your club up the ladder … I’ve never thought this way in my whole life until I’m seeing what Harley Reid is going to do for West Coast for the next 15 years,” Lloyd said.
Cornes said the injection of Reid into the Eagles has once again made them relevant while the round 24 win has made North Melbourne “irrelevant”.
“Which brings me to the question of how are they going to keep players?” Cornes asked.
“They’ve done a great job, Larkey has resigned, Simpkin has resigned, Sheezel has resigned but this is the reality of it.
“These are the wins of Ben McKay’s career. He had eight wins in his whole time at North Melbourne and he’s had three already this year with Essendon.
“Horne-Francis is now up to 20 wins from 27 games at Port Adelaide. A look at players like Luke Davies-Uniacke who has played at North for seven years for 18 wins.
“Paul Curtis can be a very good player, small forward he’d be a very good player in a good side … he’s played in four wins from 41 games.
“If I was them I’d seriously be looking at Horne-Francis and the enjoyment that he has had, Ben McKay and the enjoyment that he has had and the lack of success and how difficult it is going to be to keep these players if this continues at North Melbourne.”
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