“Penny has dropped”: Reid set to explode after huge pre-season

Watch out, AFL, the penny has dropped this season for Harley Reid.

That’s according to AFL.com.au journalist Nathan Schmook, who has kept a close eye on the young midfielder this pre-season.

After a strong first campaign where he was the standout first-year player in the AFL, Reid’s second season was underwhelming despite finishing strong with a few big performances.

Having experienced the famed ‘second-year blues’, Schmook thinks that Reid has returned better than ever as he looks fitter in his third pre-season at the level that he ever has.

“I reckon the penny has dropped, in every way,” Schmook told SEN WA Breakfast.

“Physically and mentally, he seems like a player who's really matured over this pre-season.

“That tells me that it's going to a big year for him.

“But everything Harley's done, from staying in Perth over the off-season, focusing on his diet, you can really see it in the way that he presented physically for this pre-season, and now you can see it in the way that he's playing now that things are getting more serious.”

The other player who’s caught Schmook’s eye is second-year defender Tom McCarthy.

After a strong first season after being taken at pick 1 in the mid-season draft, Schmook has been blow away by McCarthy’s summer as he looks to make a midfield shift.

“There are two standouts at West Coast when you watch training. It's Harley Reid and it's Tom McCarthy,” Schmook said.

“It’s exciting, Tom McCarthy's probably a player that we should mention in that midfield mix.

“Last season when you track his running numbers the high-speed stuff, the kilometres travelled in games on the AFL app, he was doing AFL numbers without doing an AFL pre-season. Think of what his ceiling could be now with a full AFL pre-season.

“I love the way that he moves as a player, the way that he cuts through traffic, avoids tackles, he's skilful and he's a great decision maker, so I reckon he's going to have a big season too.”

West Coast begin their 2026 campaign with a Round 1 clash against Gold Coast at People First Stadium on March 15.