West Coast coach Andrew McQualter hints that Eagles will seek clarity from AFL on officiating of Harley Reid

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter has indicated the club will seek clarity from the AFL around the way Harley Reid is officiated after several decisions went against the young star.

Reid was the centre of plenty of attention in the Eagles’ 70-point western derby defeat and is set to face scrutiny from the match review officer for an elbow to the sternum on Docker Matt Johnson in the final term.

The 21-year-old gave away two crucial free kicks in the first quarter, the first for a late bump as an opponent kicked before he appeared to drop his knee into defender Luke Ryan after they crossed the boundary line.

McQualter confirmed the Eagles coaches spoke to Reid at the first break after the incidents.

“We spoke to him about solutions. We just refocused him, but I thought he did that well after quarter time,” he said.

However, Reid was also on the wrong end of several decisions that appeared not to be called by the officials, including a late bump from Dockers forward Sam Switkowski as he kicked the ball.

Asked about the frustration from Reid about umpiring calls that didn’t go his way, McQualter said: “I can’t talk to it specifically. I’m not allowed to, but we will definitely look closely at it and look to get some clarity if we think there’s some inconsistency in the way that Harley’s being treated.

“We will work with the AFL. We will go and look at the tape, and if we think there’s something there worth asking, we’ll do it.”

Reid’s immediate concern is whether he will be available to take on the last-placed Richmond at the MCG next weekend or if he will be cited by the match review officer for his elbow on Johnson.

The incident is likely to be deemed intentional and to the body, but it will be whether the impact is classed as medium or low impact that will decide whether Reid is suspended or fined.

McQualter would not be drawn into any comment around whether Reid would not be available to take on the Tigers.

“I haven’t looked back at the incident. I just saw it happen live, the free kick,” he said.

“It will be what it’ll be.”

McQualter conceded the Dockers were simply too good for his team for most of the night, despite being down by only eight points at half-time before they conceded 11 goals to one in the second half.

“It was pretty convincing in every part of the game ... even though the scoreboard was good at half-time, we were eight points in it; it did flatter us a bit the scoreboard at half-time,” he said.

“There were parts of our game that we did like, but they’re a powerful team. It looked like they were five years advanced on us really in every phase of the game.

“They were stronger. They were able to break our tackles tonight; they got on top in clearance, contested ball in the second half, and we just couldn’t really get anything going.”