Season over for another young Eagle
But fellow tall Archer Reid's season is over after he succumbed to a toe injury.
Edwards trained on Tuesday but looked sore and will be a focus at Thursday's training session.
West Coast is sweating on his availablity as it looks to Edwards, Rhett Bazzo or Sandy Brock to partner Reuben Ginbey for the assignment on Bulldogs' giants Aaron Naughton and 208cm Sam Darcy is a hard match-up .
Naughton is second in the Coleman Medal race, while Darcy is unstoppable when he is running hot, both in the air and at ground level.
Naughton has kicked 55 goals and Darcy 45 this season.
Edwards missed the narrow loss to Adelaide on Sunday.
'Harry presented with some foot soreness which kept him out of last week's match,' high performance manager Mat Inness said.
'We'll assess him closely through the week before making a call on his availability.'
Reid's debut campaign is over after he injured his toe in the first quarter against the Crows.
'He got through the game, however he has some tendon damage, which will rule him out of the final two games,' Inness said.
Reid, who was sighted in a moon boot at the club yesterday, was drafted in late 2023, but did not play a game last season.
After an impressive pre-season, he debuted in the Eagles' opener against Gold Coast and has played 14 games as a key forward and second ruck.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
15 minutes ago
- News.com.au
AFL 2025: West Coast Eagles increasingly confident of Harley Reid's long-term future
West Coast Eagles coach Andrew McQualter is increasingly optimistic prodigy Harley Reid will turn his back on historic contract offers and commit to the club long term. Reid's future has been a prevalent AFL topic since he was drafted and it heightened during the week after St Kilda reportedly offered the Victorian $25m. The rising star is out of contract at the end of 2026, but McQualter says Reid's actions indicate a player invested 'for a long time'. 'I am really confident Harley will be here, he's really invested,' McQualter said. 'I've spoken about this all along, every day Harley turns up to work he's incredibly invested in this team and this club. 'I'm really optimistic that Harley will be here, I love working with him and hopeful I'll work with him for a long time to come. 'I'm talking for a long time, all I can judge it on is his behaviours that he comes with every day at the football club. 'The young man is really invested, he's working hard to make us become better, make himself better, he cares about the group, cares about the club. 'They're signs to me that he's really invested.' The Eagles, however, appear likely to lose co-captain Oscar Allen. McQualter was questioned about Allen immediately after Reid, and the tone and clarity around the dynamic forward was noticeably different. Allen met with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell earlier in the season but has since been linked to joining reigning premier Brisbane to fill the void of Joe Daniher. 'We speak to Oscar regularly, we're in contact working with Oscar's management, we're still not clear where it'll be,' McQualter said. 'We're working really hard to make Oscar a player here for a long time. 'It's not even about the co-captain being here or not; the job of a coach is two eyes on the present and one eye on the future. 'I don't know how many eyes you've got, but you've somehow got to do that as a coach and list manager, that's the job. You have to be able to forecast but live in the present as well.'
7NEWS
an hour ago
- 7NEWS
West Coast coach Andrew McQualter delivers mixed news on future of Oscar Allen and Harley Reid
West Coast coach Andrew McQualter is optimistic Harley Reid will stay at the club for the long term despite more Godfather-type offers rolling in for the star midfielder. Reid is contracted to West Coast until the end of 2026 but there is already a huge tug-of-war for the No.1 draft pick. St Kilda are reportedly the latest club to throw their hat into the ring, with some suggesting the Saints are contemplating an offer in the vicinity of $25 million over 12 years. The Eagles offer is rumoured to be about $24 million over 11 years — composing of an initial two-year deal with a trigger for the remaining nine. Hawthorn, Essendon and Geelong are others to have shown interest in Reid, with Melbourne-based clubs hoping the pull-home factor will convince the Victorian to leave West Coast. Reid's management say the 20-year-old is happy in Perth, and the Eagles are hopeful of being able to re-sign the midfield bull. 'I'm really confident Harley will be here,' McQualter said on Thursday. 'Every day Harley turns up to work, he's incredibly invested in this team, this club. So yeah, I'm really optimistic that Harley will be here.' When asked to clarify whether his optimism around Reid was merely for next year or for the long term, McQualter replied: 'I'm talking for a long time.' 'The young man is really invested,' McQualter added. 'He's working hard to make us become better, to get himself better. 'He cares about the group, cares about the club. So there's signs that point to me that he's really invested.' Questions have been raised about whether it's in the best interests of a club to commit more than $2 million a season on one player. McQualter doesn't see any issues with it. 'Money's different to what it used to be,' the former Saints and Suns tagger said. 'When I played, I got paid $48,000. So if you're asking me would I have taken $2 million - the answer is yes, I would have. 'Was I worth it? No, I think that's pretty obvious. 'But I think that's just where the game's trending. It's going up. It'll happen eventually - someone will be that player. 'There was a time when no one was a million dollar player, and that broke a record. So that'll just be what happens, and it will keep moving like that in the future.' McQualter was less bullish when it came to co-captain Oscar Allen, who as a restricted free agent is expected to sign with the Brisbane Lions. 'We're working with Oscar's management. We're still not clear where it'll be, but we're working really hard to try and make Oscar a player here for a long time,' McQualter said. The Eagles showed enormous fight in last week's nine-point loss to Adelaide, and they'll face another big task on Sunday against a star-studded Western Bulldogs attack featuring Sam Darcy and Aaron Naughton at Marvel Stadium.
West Australian
2 hours ago
- West Australian
West Coast Eagles mid-season draftee Tom McCarthy joins list of elite AFL ball winners in first season
West Coast's top mid-season draftee Tom McCarthy has continued his meteoric rise, joining an elite AFL group. The mature-aged defender has been a shining light since his arrival at the Eagles' nest in May. And just eight games into what the club will be hoping is a long and decorated career, the 25-year-old has joined an elite list of ball winners. McCarthy is inside the top 10 for most disposals over the first eight games of an AFL career, sitting equal seventh on 194 alongside Greater Western Sydney captain Toby Greene. He is also just six disposals off Carlton star Sam Walsh and seven behind what Brownlow Medal favourite Nick Daicos produced through his first eight appearances. Former Fremantle and Gold Coast midfielder Michael Barlow heads the impressive list, having collected 220 disposals. Most of McCarthy's numbers - 24 disposals, five marks and an elite 510 metres gained per game - even came before his first shift in midfield, the eight-gamer showing he will be able to add a further string to his bow that already includes being one of the club's best kicks. 'I feel like I wasn't ready for it at the start, but getting out there ... I definitely feel ready now and ready to move forward with (the midfield move),' McCarthy said on Tuesday. 'It's a massive jump and it's probably the strength bit for me, I need to get a bit stronger. 'When you try and body up a few of the AFL mids, it's a bit different, you have to go about your craft a bit differently, but it's a great challenge.' McCarthy was taught a lesson in his first quarter in midfield against the Crows, torched by star Jordan Dawson. However, the rising star was quick to learn and ended the match as one of the best on with a game-high 29 disposals to go with two clearances as the Eagles pushed the league leaders to within nine points of a historic upset. With co-captain Liam Duggan now missing the final two clashes of the season, McCarthy could be forced to fill the gap at half-back, but McQualter said his value in the middle may already be too great to lose. 'Yeah, it's one of our options, for sure, but probably after the way Tom played last week, we'd be pretty keen to keep him in the midfield role. He does give us a real point at difference, Tom,' McQualter said on Thursday. 'His run, work rating the way he uses the ball. So that'll be a discussion but it's probably going to be hard to wrestle to midfield coaches to get him out of there at the moment.' Just two years ago, McCarthy was playing amateur football and working nine to five in marketing, and the explosive half-back said he still had more growth in him. 'I think from where I've grown to now is so far from where I was two years ago,' he said. 'But I reckon I've got that much more left to learn, both on the field and off the field, with diet and gym and even my footy, I know I've got lots to work on, so I'm really excited for where I can go. 'We do a bit of meditation and some breathing exercises before the game. A few of us boys get in there and do that, and that's something I never used to do, so it's new to me, but I've started doing that since my debut. 'It really helps me to calm myself down before the game and getting rid of the nerves, and something I'll probably do for the rest of my career.'
