West Coast young gun Harley Reid has been in the headlines for all the right reasons early in his AFL career.
The No.1 draft pick strung together some really good games which coincided with the Eagles’ return to form, resulting in wins over Richmond and Fremantle.
Reid had a week off in Round 7 to freshen up, heading back home to spend time with family in Victoria, before returning for the weekend’s eventual loss to Essendon.
Late in that game, the 19-year-old cramped when attempting to chase which resulted in him heading to the interchange bench with just over five minutes remaining.
Kane Cornes was critical of Reid on Channel 9’s Footy Classified while comparing him to Collingwood gun Nick Daicos.
He feels the rising Eagles star is below standards if he is being forced from the ground late in a game, even if it was just his seventh AFL appearance.
“If he wants to be the best, if he wants to be Nick Daicos, he's got to have his training standards to a level that is (like Daicos),” Cornes said.
“I’ve seen him (cramp) in the last five minutes of a game. I don’t know what his training standards are.
“I’m saying that was a concern for me to see how out on his feet he was late in a game that was nowhere near as high pressure as the Collingwood one.
“After a week off with five minutes to go that he had to come off the ground. He came back on the ground, so he’s not injured, he’s cramping. A cramp is a sign of conditioning after a week off.
“I’ve praised Harley Reid, I think he’s been enormous for West Coast and made them relevant again, I love how competitive he is and how much of a winner he is.
“But that doesn’t mean you get away with poor efforts and poor training standards.”
"If he wants to be the best, if he wants to be Nick Daicos, he's got to have his training standards to [that] level."
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) May 6, 2024
While he's loved the impact Harley Reid has already had, @kanecornes has one concern about the young gun.#9FootyClassified | Nine & 9Now 🖥️ pic.twitter.com/zwiUJtWyYS
SEN’s Garry Lyon was in disbelief after hearing those comments, describing them as “ridiculous”.
He and Tim Watson discussed the opinion that Reid, at such an early stage of his career, is believed to be below acceptable training standards.
“He’s played seven games that kid,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.
“I know what Kane’s doing.”
Watson asked: “Is it legitimate in any way to question somebody after seven games who had a disrupted pre-season and is being asked to play in the midfield as a first-year player?
“Is that a legitimate criticism?”
Lyon continued: “In his mind it would be, but it’s just ridiculous. I’m sorry.
“I think Kane has spoken in the past about the unbelievable pressure that the Western Australian media are putting on this kid.
CORNES STUNNED BY PERTH MEDIA’S HARLEY REID OBSESSION AFTER ANOTHER BACK PAGE SPREAD
“What you’ve just done there is the unbelievable pressure situation. Most people listening to that are going, ‘Mate, that’s just nonsense’.
“This is a kid who is still trying to work out the training standards. Do you expect him to know at seven games where he needs to be as an AFL midfielder?”
Lyon referenced the fact that Daicos spent plenty of his time playing across half-back while also identifying Jason Horne-Francis, who Cornes constantly lauds, as a player who had his own shortcomings in terms of chasing, pressure and defensive efforts in his earlier days.
“You (Cornes) mentioned Nick Daicos. He had the relative luxury of playing on a half-back flank,” he added.
“See Jason Horne-Francis and his first year and how we critiqued him because he wasn’t chasing and he wasn’t putting defensive pressure on. Because guess what? He probably wasn’t fit enough because players have got to work it out for themselves.
“If you get a kid, we’ll plonk you into the AFL, the most hyped kid in the history of footy, slap you straight in there and I tell you what, if by the seventh game you’re cramping because you can’t run out a game, I’m coming for ya!
“Can you see how ridiculous that sounds?”
Watson also agrees it is a “ridiculous” element to focus on given how fresh and green Reid is at the elite level.
“It is a ridiculous thing to zero in on,” he said.
“He may not have the engine yet. He may not physically have that.
“It may be that our explosive friend over in the west, Harley Reid, has great ability but he may not necessarily have the endurance capabilities yet. That will build over a period of time.
“I just think it’s a ridiculous thing to be saying so early in someone’s career.
“He (Cornes) had a miss last night.”
In his first seven games, Reid has averaged 17.6 disposals, 4.7 clearances, 3.3 tackles, 2.9 inside 50s and has kicked five goals.
He and the Eagles next take on Collingwood at Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon.