'Sinister': Former top draft pick calls out Harley Reid integrity criticism
Western Bulldogs premiership player Tom Boyd has called for fans and the media to lay off Harley Reid.
The West Coast midfielder has been in the spotlight of late given he is yet to recommit to the club long-term.
Reid gave the bird to heckling Brisbane fans in the crowd on the weekend and was subsequently issued a 'please explain' by the AFL.
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He wasn't fined for the incident, but he did change his Instagram display photo to Eagles great Ben Cousins giving a camera the same gesture.
Boyd suffered similar scrutiny as the number one draft pick to GWS in 2013. He would leave at the end of the 2014 season for the Western Bulldogs as part of one of the biggest AFL trades of all time.
He believes the media needs to relax and give both Reid and the Eagles time to work through things.
"The element that typically happens with number one picks almost exclusively, I think father-sons cop a little bit of the side collateral spray from this as well, but they're just sinister in nature to really go under the skin of questioning his integrity and the player's integrity at times around these number one picks," Boyd told 3AW's Wide World of Sports.
"It was certainly something that happened to me, I remember in my first season there were articles written about how I was too heavy and couldn't cover ground and then there was articles written about how my father was having an influence on my career and how I was being coached when he was 900km away and certainly not having any input.
"I think it is a really tricky situation to find themselves in, but I really do believe that given we're two rounds in, he's playing for a team that has struggled for a long period of time, there is a lot of water to go under the bridge, and he's clearly good enough to play at the top level."
While Boyd isn't suggesting Reid should be above criticism for his actions, he says the media need to know where the line is.
"Look, I'll never shy away from the fact that AFL footballers should be critiqued for their football, but I think the line gets crossed at times when we start to directly and deliberately antagonise the integrity of players with really no basis other than the fact that they can see a frustrated player on the field who is not performing at the level they want to be at that time," Boyd said.
Reid was named the 2024 Best First Year Player by the AFLPA and also won the award for Goal of the Year.
