Brad Hardie and Jakovich said, "Gone are the days when WCE were a destination club". Why would he want to hang around to prop up a pension fund when there's other young clubs rebuilding without having a bunch of old guys hanging on to their incredible contracts? Jordan Clark grew up supporting WCE but claimed he had nominated Fremantle because they were a younger club, and it had been miserable and isolating being in Geelong where your besty was Selwood. Their best chance of keeping Reid would be if he was surrounded by other Victorian country kids.Seriously unsure why Harley would have something against moving to WA. Absolutely shits on Victoria if you are a young person.
I get family and friends makes it tough but he'd love the life.
Obviously he would consider the current state the list is in though. It would be a major concern because realistically, could be spending the first half of his career in the bottom four.
If he goes to North Melbourne, they are going to be pushing for the eight within 3-5 years time.
Players often "have something against moving to WA" because it's a fish bowl environment. This was why Neale claimed he wanted to move to Brisbane, and why Hogan was unable to cope.
When you only have two teams in a state, you get picked to pieces. At least Melbourne players are protected due to there being many more clubs to be scrutinised. When WCE were doing well, you couldn't pick up the daily newspaper and not read an article on what undies Nic Nat was wearing, or what he thought about climate change. When they started to perform poorly, there were stories about how fat Eliot Yeo has become.
The newspaper here is very cruel and personal. It survives on targeting and bullying football players. The attacks on Luke Jackson, earlier in the year, were unrelenting. They will then hypocritically rn a story on the impact of bullying on young people.
It's amazing that O Henry was able to validate wanting to go to Geelong from Collingwood "just down the road" because he was "homesick".
If Reid was my son, I wouldn't want him moving to WA.