Lloyd's rare confession over North's move to lose prodigy

Matthew Lloyd has confessed he wonders why North Melbourne pushed to defeat Gold Coast in the final round of the 2023 season, moving them off the bottom of the ladder and missing out on highly-touted No.1 draft pick Harley Reid, who landed at West Coast.

The Roos beat the Suns by 35 points, inspired by a nine-goal haul from forward Nick Larkey, shooting them from 18th to 17th, meaning they dropped down in the draft order.

With the first pick of the 2023 draft just weeks later, the Eagles would go on to select Reid, who has now gone on to be named the round five AFL rising star in just his fifth ever career game.

Reid collected an impressive 27 disposals and kicked a goal in the Eagles 39-point win over Richmond, their first of the season.

Meantime, the lifeless North Melbourne were smashed by Geelong by 75 points, as they roll into round six with an 0-5 record.

Now Lloyd is convinced that if the Roos didn’t worry about winning that fateful game last season, they could have landed Reid, who may have helped to make their club “relevant” again.

“Do you feel justified in saying that North should essentially have tanked to get this guy (Reid) late in the season?,” Kane Cornes asked on Nine’s Footy Classified on Monday night.

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