West Coast followers aren’t the one ones with excessive hopes of Harley Reid making a right away impression in his debut season, with bookmakers putting in the No.1 draft decide as a powerful Rising Star favorite.
Sportsbet and TAB have each listed Reid as the recent $2.75 favorite to say the Ron Evans Medal, forward of second-year North Melbourne midfielder George Wardlaw ($5) and Gold Coast ahead Jed Walter ($8).
WA draftee Dan Curtin is priced at $15 after being drafted by Adelaide, whereas fellow Claremont product Angus Sheldrick (Sydney) is at $18 regardless of being in his third season.
Reid will likely be seeking to emulate the feat of Ben Cousins in 1996 in taking out the award. Cousins is the only Eagle to have gained the prize, having been acknowledged for a positive debut marketing campaign as a ahead earlier than occurring to turn out to be one of many competitors’s finest midfielders.
However, Reid must overcome a historical past of No.1 draft picks struggling to land the Rising Star prize. Just 4 high picks have taken out the award in its 31-year historical past: Nick Riewoldt (2002), Brett Deledio (2005), Andrew McGrath (2017) and Sam Walsh (2019).
It comes after Reid hit the bottom working at West Coast throughout his first week on the membership, having landed in WA final Friday.
The 18-year-old impressed on the coaching monitoring earlier than embracing his standing as prompt fan favorite, signing autographs and taking selfies with loads of supporters at Wednesday’s open session.
West Coast will tackle Port Adelaide on the Adelaide Oval in spherical one, with Eagles followers set to get their first native glimpse of Reid as an AFL participant when the membership hosts GWS at Optus Stadium per week later.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
