West Coast coach Andrew McQualter has defended Harley Reid after he gave away an ill-disciplined free kick which led to a Sydney goal on Saturday night.
Such incidents have plagued Reid early in his AFL career, with Saturday's incident coming as he stood up for teammate Reuben Ginbey in the 128-point drubbing.
"He (Ginbey) got hit in the head and didn't get a free kick, so Harley stands up for his teammate. It's not great. He gave a free kick away and the outcome was a goal from 45m on the boundary," McQualter said.
"I don't want Harley to give away free kicks, and we talk about that, but the fact he's trying to stand up for his teammates, it's a pretty good trait."
As well as that free kick, he also gave away a 50-metre penalty as frustrations boiled over on a tough night for the Eagles.
McQualter instead pointed to the need to better support Reid, who was effectively tagged by Sydney's James Jordon, who entirely nullified his impact and kept him to 17 disposals.
It's the most significant attention Reid has been given in his AFL career to date and follows an impressive fortnight where he has been a crucial cog of back-to-back wins.
"Jordon is one of the best taggers in the competition, and I think [Harley] is not the first and he won't be the last player that he does that to. He's just so good at it," McQualter said on Saturday night.
"(But) we didn't help Harley enough. We had some plans in place, but it's going to be part of what we do going forward, because I imagine it's not the last time that he'll get tagged.
"We need Harley playing great footy for us. I think that's what is needed, so his teammates have got to help him do that.
"We tried quite a few different things and we moved him positionally a few times. It wasn't quite the level he's been at the last few weeks, but that's what you get from a 20-year-old."
