Former West Coast Eagle Jayden Hunt says Harley Reid could emulate Christian Petracca’s rise to AFL stardom

Former Eagle Jayden Hunt has opened up on his exit from West Coast and compared Harley Reid to former Melbourne superstars that has him believing the club could be on the up. Hunt retired at the end of last season after 58 games with the Eagles, having spent nine years in Melbourne, having narrowly missed out on their premiership success after being an emergency in 2022. “I did retire, but I saw the writing was on the wall and felt the delisting was coming, so I thought I’d beat them to it,” he told Triple M. “It’s funny that they listed me emergency cause I was told if I was fit, they would pick me. “But I hadn’t played for five or six weeks with a syndesmosis injury, and I was never in a chance, so I’m not salty about it.” Hunt’s move to the West Coast, unfortunately, coincided with the club falling to its lowest ebb as he featured in just nine wins across three years, including just one from his last 17 games. However, Hunt beleives their is a bright future at the Eagles, backing their young talent to rebuild the club. “The young group is really strong; it just takes a few years,” he said. “I compare them alot to Melbourne because it was similar when I got their, they weren’t winning any games, the older players didn’t have the confidence, which then leads into the younger players “But once players get that confidence, it can snowball the other way. “Mini is the quintessential modern coach loves relationships with players on and off the field. He wasn’t handed a gold nugget of a team, but he’s working it.” The Melbourne comparisons don’t stop there for Hunt, who believes Harley Reid could emulate the impact of Christian Petracca or Clayton Oliver in turning the club around. “The sky’s the limit for [him],” Hunt said. “He reminds me of Clarry and Trac — they came in not fully professional, but then suddenly locked in and became so professional. “Harley’s had a very good off-season, which he’d admit he didn’t do in his first two years.” “He’s a confidence player, and you almost forget about the structures with Harls, you’re just like, ‘Just use your talent.’ “The start will be really important if they can just get a win early, you get Reid, Willem Duursma up and about, and they’re a very young list.”