"Harley Reid will not be at the Eagles in 2026"

Harley Reid will not be at the West Coast Eagles next year.

That is according to WA journalist Peter Vlahos who firmly believes the 19-year-old No.1 draft pick from 2023 will depart at season’s end.

The comments come in the wake of Reid’s underwhelming 12-disposal performance in Sunday’s 87-point loss to Gold Coast which was full of frustration.

“He looks like he doesn’t want to be there,” host Vlahos said on SEN’s Sportsday WA.

“I’m going to go on the record in March that Harley Reid won’t be an Eagles player in 2026.

“I heard (on Monday), as we do in this industry making a few phone calls to people who you rely on and trust.”

Vlahos says Essendon is leading the race for the Victorian, but is not ruling out Hawthorn after coach Sam Mitchell was recently seen sitting with Reid at the wedding of Tom Barrass.

“Remember that photo when Harley was sitting next to Sam Mitchell at the wedding. Sam just laughed it off,” Vlahos continued.

“I believe that Sam Mitchell will come together with Harley Reid again - it will probably be mid-season - just to reconnect. They made a connection at that gathering and Sam Mitchell is certainly keeping in touch, maybe through management, but certainly will come back to Perth at some time and have a chat to Harley Reid.

“You judge by the body language that he seems unsettled in many ways, he seems a frustrated individual. We saw it last year when he was an outright headline very time he played.

“I’m just feeling at the moment the he maybe is looking beyond this year and I think he will not be a West Coast Eagles player in 2026.

“Hawthorn will be trying damn hard to try and acquire his services. Essendon at this stage, because of what they’ve got in the chest, are probably leading the pack.”

SEN WA’s Scott Cummings also noticed some frustration within Reid on the weekend.

He has issued a word of warning for the talented youngster who could see his career start to fizzle in front of his eyes if he does not alter his mindset.

“He’s going to waste years of his life if he doesn’t understand what he has to do become great,” Cummings said on SEN WA Mornings.

“He hasn’t done that work over summer, he doesn’t have the tank to play midfield all the time and I don’t think he’s got the discipline either.

“I don’t think he can do what they did with (Harry) Sheezel and (Nick) Daicos and play them off half-back because he’s got a ball-winning mentality and not a manning up mentality.

“The other thing with Harley is if you don’t have the energy or the tank to run all day, you don’t need to waste it fighting people.

“Fair dinkum, every time he gets hit he has to hit someone back and fight them. Every time he gets a bump he’s got to get up and push them in the chest and it ends up in a wrestle.

“He’s got to get his mind right for one. We’re not inside the four walls but I really hope the Eagles are not pandering to him because they want him to stay.

“I think someone needs to be hard on him, someone needs to give him a clip around the earhole and go, ‘Mate, this is what you need to do, you need to pull your finger out, you need to work harder’.

“Our mail also is that he goes to training and trains really hard, and then that’s it. There’s no extras, there’s no extra skills, there’s no extra conditioning, there’s nothing else. Whether that mail is right or not, I believe it.

“He’s in for a really long and disappointing year unless he changes his mindset a bit.”

Reid and the Eagles will be looking to bounce back when they meet reigning premiers the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Sunday.