Roos "more challenging" than most think | 02:27 Essendon head coach Brad Scott has spoken transparently on his club’s interest in rival young gun Harley Reid — before flagging that the Bombers would be “slipping behind everyone else” if they weren’t speaking to his management. Speaking on Tuesday night, the third-year Dons coach was confident in his club’s flexibility to attain a player of Reid’s status, before revealing what makes them well-placed for a potential play. FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. “I like to think my opinion at list management counts for something,” Scott begun by saying on Seven. “We wanted to put ourselves in a position as a club that we had flexibility; whether that be to go to the draft with two first and two second-round picks, or to be an active player in the trade period and free agency. “They’re the three main mechanisms, free agency, trading and the draft — and we have significant capital in all three of those.” “I haven’t spoken to him, but clearly in the environment we’re in, if our list management team isn’t speaking to his management, we’re slipping behind everyone else.” As things currently stand heading into Round 8, the Bombers hold picks 4, 7, 24 and 25 in this year’s national draft; with the latter two picks very well in the mix to pick up a pair of Academy players affiliated to the Bombers. Reid, who is contracted to West Coach until the end of next year, is expected to have whirlwind amounts of money thrown his way by Victorian clubs to try and lure the Tongala product back to his home state. In turn, the Eagles will be inundated over the next 18 months with trade requests and an eye-watering amount of draft capital for his services. The 20-year-old has previously played for the Bombers’ reserves prior to being draft in the AFL, as well as training with them over the off-season a couple of years ago. Brad Scott coaching against the West Coast Eagles at Optus Stadium on April 18, 2025 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Janelle St Pierre via Getty Images) Source: Getty Images “I love the way he goes about it. We have had Harley down to our club, he spent his couple of weeks as an AIS Academy graduate in our program, he played in our VFL team,” Scott continued. “I love the way he goes about it; I love his emotion (and) love his aggression. “We’ve certainly got a relationship through that small amount of time, but I suspect there’s a lot of other clubs that think they’ve got good relationships with him too.” AFL Media’s Callum Twomey reported earlier this month that the Eagles have put forward multiple contract options in a major bid to have Reid stay at the club, including a three-year deal and also a five-year deal. Hawthorn, Geelong and the Bombers are at this stage tipped to be the three clubs that will go the hardest to acquire the midfielder’s services.