Trade talk: Why West Coast needs Allen to join Brisbane

West Coast has been urged to wrap Oscar Allen in cotton wool in order to protect his trade value.

Allen suffered a plantaris injury (a small muscle in the lower leg) in his left leg during Sunday night’s home loss to Carlton, hobbling from the ground in the hands of trainers in the fourth quarter.

It is unsure how long Allen will be sidelined for but SEN’s David King believes it is now time for the Eagles to sit him for the remainder of the season so the Lions still actually want him.

In return the Eagles may receive top tote in the form of a very high draft pick as compensation for their potentially departing skipper so protecting him now could pay off at season’s end.

King says the Eagles will benefit greatly if the free agent were to up and leave.

“Do you think the West Coast supporters would prefer to have Pick 2 locked up and guaranteed or take the risk on playing Oscar Allen in a meaningless back-half of the season where it can only run aground?” King said on SEN’s Fireball.

“It can only impact your ability to get this deal done, which is absolutely 100 per cent critical to their rebuild.

“They actually need Oscar Allen to go to Brisbane on a big deal.”

Fireball co-host Kane Cornes previously made the same point and again believes that the Eagles can gain nothing from playing Allen when he’s fit again.

“I said this about four weeks ago that there’s no point playing Oscar Allen anymore,” said Cornes.

“There’s no point for West Coast, there’s no point for him, and there’s no point for the club that wants to get him.

“What can be gained by playing Oscar Allen? You feel like you’re justified in that opinion when he goes down off the ball.

“With a few games left in the season, there’s no point. Only damage can be done to his value and that of the club and the price they will get for him.

“Just put him on ice. Let’s have a mature conversation about it.”

King added: “Would you be happy with ensuring you get the premium pick at the cost of that player for 10 games in the back-half of the season?”

Cornes concluded: “If you bring the fans along for the ride as to why you’ve made this decision and why it is in the best interests of the footy club I think they would be understanding.

“It is unique that he’s the captain. But it is unique that your captain is off meeting with rival clubs (Hawthorn) earlier on in the season as well.”

Allen has two significant contracts in front of him.

That is according to Channel 9 journalist and SEN regular Tom Morris who is reporting that the 26-year-old key forward has offers from both the Eagles and the Brisbane Lions on the table.

And it appears as though the Lions are very keen to lure him across from the west.

“The West Coast deal on the table for him is three years with triggers for a fourth,” Morris said on Footy Furnace.

“The Brisbane deal is six years. How a significant injury can change that, I’m not too sure.

“I’m still of the firm belief that he wants to be at the Lions next year. So we’ll see how that plays out at the end of the season.”

Eagles coach Andrew McQualter said in his post-match press conference that the skipper had avoided the worst-case scenario after he went down behind the play in a seemingly innocuous incident.

“Our medical team just briefly said that we've avoided all the worst-case scenarios and we'll work through what's next,” McQualter said.

“When you see a player go down with no contact off the ball like that, you think the worst. I think there's been a couple of cases of that this year, so fortunately he's avoided that.”