Eagles coach Andrew McQualter says club deserves draft help as Harley Reid returns home

News.com.au

2 days ago

Rookie West Coast coach Andrew McQualter is all-in on his club's pursuit of draft help, including a priority pick, declaring he is 'in a rush to get better'.
Premiers as recently as 2018, and with a monster $20m offer on the table for gun youngster Harley Reid, the Eagles' request for help has raised some eyebrows around the AFL.
McQualter confirmed that Reid had returned home to Tongala in country Victoria after his season-ending ankle syndesmosis injury without a firm decision on his future. He's out of contract at the end of 2026.
But after West Coast chief executive Don Pyke confirmed the club would lodge an application for AFL draft assistance, McQualter fell in behind the boss, declaring the battling outfit would take any available steps to improve its list as quickly as possible.
The Eagles have won just a single game this season, McQualter's first at the helm, and just 11 across their past four and are set to collect a second wooden spoon in three years.
'We're in a rush to get better and historically, the ways to get better are draft, trade, free agent and priority bids, that's part of the rules,' McQualter said.
'So we need to explore all the options we can and whatever it lands us, whether it's more picks, a high pick, wherever, if it's an opportunity for us to get better, we'll take it.
'We're aligned that we're in a position where we think we can apply for it, and then the AFL will look at it and they decide.
'We're in a rush to get better and if that's a way that we can get better, we're willing to look and apply for it.'
The Eagles are still in discussions about what form of draft help they would seek. Any assistance package would have to be ticked off by the AFL Commission.
After winning just 12 games over a four-year period between 2020-23, North Melbourne was given three end-of-first round selections across the 2023 and 2024 drafts as well as extra rookie list spots.
'I haven't been involved in the actual application. I've been across it but not involved in it, so I'm not sure the answer to it,' McQualter said.
'We'll just apply and see where it lands.'
McQualter said the Eagles would also go after more experienced players, having lured Richmond premiership pair Liam Baker and Jack Graham to the club this season.
'Potentially, for sure, we're looking at that as well. That's an option. I think we've said it really publicly, where we're open to every avenue,' he said.
'And that will be draft this year that we'll target and we'll also target trade and free agency.'
McQualter said 20-year-old Reid had returned home, in a moon boot, to see his family after hurting himself last Saturday but would return to Perth to complete his rehab.
'We do that with all of our players. Harley's not going to play again this season, and this week of rehab is not going to be much,' McQualter said.
'He's in a moon boot still, so when you get an opportunity to send players back to their home states, we always support that.
''Harls' is in that position. Bo Allan went back to his home in Mandurah when he hurt his ankle last week, so that's common practice for us and we support it.
'It won't be for the rest of the season, so he'll come back next week and start his rehab process.'