Harley Reid’s West Coast Eagles contract; Rory Sloane comments on Footy Classified

Adelaide Crows great Rory Sloane says it “annoys” him that former No.1 AFL draft pick Harley Reid could depart West Coast only three years into his time at the club, suggesting a change the league made to draft rules two years ago was not enough.

The top-20 picks of the 2023 draft were the first group of players forced to sign three-year contracts, as opposed to the customary two-year deals.

Yet even before Reid had hopped off the plane to begin life as an Eagle, talk was rampant of whether the explosive midfielder would seek a trade back to Victoria, his home state, at the earliest time possible.

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The “go-home factor” is a problem non-Victorian clubs are faced with constantly.

Nine’s Tom Morris reported on Footy Classified that Victorian clubs believed Reid was “absolutely in play” to return home at the end of 2026, when his initial West Coast contract expires.

Hearing that prompted a fiery response from Sloane.

“It annoys me that there’s even an option for such a high draft pick to leave in such an early stage of their career,” Sloane said.

“I think it should be at least a four-year minimum, five-year minimum period you’ve got to do your time at the footy club, get yourself out of your comfort zone and immerse yourself in that environment.”

Sloane packed his bags in Victoria and headed to Adelaide after the Crows snared him with pick 44 in the 2008 draft.

Victorian clubs were hopeful for many years of luring the gun midfielder back to his home state, but he ultimately carved out a 255-game career as a one-club player. He also captained the club, either as a co-captain or its sole skipper, for four years.

Sloane offered West Coast “one bit of advice” in the club’s bid to retain Reid beyond 2026.

“If West Coast really want him to stay … I would get his family and all his friends over there to visit Perth regularly, because that’s what I did,” Sloane said.

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“My friends and family would come over and they’d go, ‘Gee, Tex [Taylor Walker] is a good bloke, gee, Bernie [Vince] is a great bloke, so is VB [Nathan van Berlo]’. [They were saying], ‘When can we come over next? When can we get involved in the club? When can we see you next, Sloaney?’.

“I think what Harley Reid’s getting at the moment is, ‘Ah, mate, when do you come home? When are you going to come see us?'”

Reid and his Eagles will open their premiership campaign against the Gold Coast Suns in Perth on Sunday.