Matthew Lloyd has suggested West Coast get outside help to work with Harley Reid after a series of ill-disciplined acts that have stained the young star's season.
Eagles coach Andrew McQualter has on several occasions this season been grilled in his post-game press conference about moments that have cost West Coast goals and momentum due to free kicks and 50m penalties awarded against Reid.
Speaking on Nine's Footy Classified on Monday, Essendon legend Lloyd called on the Eagles to think outside the square to address a problem threatening to hold back the 20-year-old's development as one of the game's elite stars.
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"I just wonder if they've tried a different voice outside of West Coast," Lloyd said.
"Imagine sitting Harley Reid down with a Luke Hodge when they're next in Melbourne, or Jonathan Brown – he used to be that undisciplined where he used to get suspended two, three times a year and then changed all that because he was hurting his team.
"I just think that maybe a different voice for him. West Coast sees it, have probably pandered to him for a long time and not wanted to upset him and they don't want to lose him. I think he's shown that he's a West Coast Eagles person now but giving him a different voice to speak to outside of the West Coast could be the best thing for him."
After a horror couple of years, the Eagles have shown improvement this season, winning two of their first five games to sit just one win outside the top-eight.
They are building towards a future heavily dependant on Reid, the superstar 20-year-old who played one of the best rookie seasons of all time in 2024 but has been consistently linked with a return to his home state of Victoria.
That talk has cooled after Reid signed a monster two year contract extension – thought to be worth roughly $2 million per season – in August last year.
That deal commits Reid to the Eagles until the end of the 2028 season, giving the club hope of an upward trajectory that could put finals hopes back on the radar.
However, McQualter's clear frustration with Reid has bubbled to the surface on multiple occasions this year, most notable after the club's heavy loss to Geelong at the weekend.
He gave away five free kicks and a 50m penalty in the clash, taking away from his positive contributions having also kicked a goal and racked up 22 disposals.
"Harley let himself down in that area today and he knows that," McQualter said.
"That was not the way we want Harley to play. But I also thought he had parts of his game that were strong. We'll keep working with him like we do with all our players.
"He's a very, very good player. He's important to us. But we want him to be important to us for the whole time. We want to ensure his discipline doesn't tip over."
McQualter's comments came a week after Fox Footy commentator David King launched into Reid over his "petulant" on-field behaviour that led to a 50m penalty against Sydney.
"Harley just taps the ball away, it's not good enough. It's something he's got to get out of his game," King said at the time.
"Just the petulant behaviour hurting his team again. He's better than that.
"He has such a positive influence on this team and a negative influence at times."
