In his third year of football, young West Coast star Harley Reid is beginning to learn the value of emotional control.
The 21-year-old has been widely criticised in his short career for giving away too many free kicks after losing his cool at opposition players and umpires
Opposition teams have capitalised on this, baiting Reid into giving away free kicks.
However, his aggression and drive to win are desperately needed as the young Eagles establish their identity during an extensive rebuild.
Reid has revealed he has been working closely with West Cast’s team new psychologist Jodii Maguire and it is paying dividends.
He averaged 3.2 free kicks last season, but that has dropped to 2.5 this year.
In the Eagles’ surprise victory over Greater Western Sydney in round 10, he gave away just one, while winning three in return, as he put in a best-afield performance.
He was also strong against Port Adelaide as West Coast grabbed a win on the road, giving away just one free kick as he went toe-to-toe with one of the game’s elite midfielders in Zak Butters.
“I’ve done a lot of work with Jodii, and she’s been great to be able to wire my brain to be able to think differently and not use aggressiveness and those emotions,” he told AFL.com.au.
“The answer to it is going back to 12-year-old Harley and staying present and just to think about how fun footy is. Another thing was to treat the umpires like you treat your coach. I do find at times I do get umpired differently, and it is frustrating, and I do find the inconsistency with calls… but (I am taking the approach) to treat them like you would with your coaches.
“The fire in the belly at the moment does sometimes get out of control, and I have to try to control those emotions, but hopefully they’re seeing that I’m getting a bit better at that. I’m trying to.”
Reid even gave the Power star a cheeky recruitment pitch.
“He’s a hard nut and someone you look at, and you’re like ‘Oh, I want to play with you’. I really enjoyed that game. Those match-ups are something that you do really love, and both players want to put their head over it and go hard,” Reid said.
“I reckon I even dropped a hint to him like ‘Stuff it, just tease them and come to Perth instead, come play with me’.”
The young Eagle produced 21 disposals and two goals as his side came from behind to claim back-to-back triumphs.
Reid gave away four free kicks in the club’s nail-biting 10-point defeat at the hands of Collingwood last weekend but it came as result of the 21-year-old setting the tone in a big game.
In front of 90,028 fans at the MCG, Reid showed no signs of stage fright, going after games record breaker Scott Pendlebury from the first bounce with a fend off that left the veteran floored on his special day.
