Harley Reid’s western derby heroics have grow to be all of the extra unbelievable after it was revealed he produced the match-winning show whereas his physique was “flagging”.
Reid, who has made a surprising begin to his AFL profession, will take a well-deserved relaxation when West Coast face the Suns on the Gold Coast on Sunday.
The No.1 choose from final yr’s draft set tongues wagging with three targets, 19 possessions and 7 clearances in West Coast’s shock 37-point win over Fremantle final week.
His two-goal burst on the finish of the primary quarter helped flip the momentum West Coast’s method.
Per week earlier, Reid tallied 27 disposals, seven clearances and a objective in a 39-point victory over Richmond.
Remarkably, these two performances got here after West Coast’s inside measurements revealed his physique was displaying some indicators of needing a break.
“I feel he was fairly eager to play (towards Gold Coast), however he additionally understood the state of affairs,” West Coast coach Adam Simpson stated on Friday.
“He was simply flagging a bit of bit together with his physique.
“With the metrics we measure our gamers on every week it slowly decreased the final couple of weeks.
“We have decided trying on the greater image.
“We’ll miss him … however doing the appropriate factor by the child can be our precedence.”
Reid has been granted time to go to his household within the Victorian city of Tongala.
West Coast will even be with out suspended defender Tom Barrass once they face the Gold Coast, robbing the Eagles of two of their most vital gamers.
However in a serious increase, premiership ahead Liam Ryan returns for the primary time since tearing his hamstring towards Fremantle in spherical three final yr.
Ryan replaces injured ahead Noah Lengthy (hip), whereas the Eagles additionally welcome again defender Harry Edwards and midfielder Luke Edwards.
“I feel he is nervous. It has been some time,” Simpson stated of Ryan.
“We’ll handle him by way of the sport … we’ll take care of him with some minutes.”
West Coast challenged Barrass’s one-match ban on the AFL Tribunal for a sling sort out, hoping the defender’s good document would assist scale back the suspension to a high-quality.
However in contrast to what occurred to Brisbane’s Charlie Cameron per week earlier, the AFL Tribunal deemed there have been no distinctive and compelling circumstances.
As for the sort out itself, Simpson stated his gamers wanted to watch out to not repeat these actions.
“We have simply obtained to watch out with these incidents. We will keep away from these,” Simpson stated.
“It was a 50-50 name I assumed when it comes to lacking per week (by way of suspension).
“The motion itself is fairly clear. We have simply obtained to watch out.”
Gold Coast included veteran ahead Sam Day and defender Rory Atkins of their 23-man squad rather than Ethan Learn (managed) and Bodhi Uwland (dropped).
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AAP