At least that is what we think will happen.
A series of late season results, where Reid was heading west, then to North Melbourne and then west again, only to then be the subject of various rumours of draft exchanges, seems to have landed with him heading to the West Coast Eagles again.
Reid, the 18-year-old Tongala-born and bred product who made his last appearance with his beloved Blues in the Murray Football League earlier this year, is almost certain to be taken with the first pick.
That pick is held by West Coast, followed by two North Melbourne picks before it is Hawthorn’s turn at pick four.
The draft will begin on Monday, November 20, and Reid will be far from his home town when he is likely to be handed a West Coast Eagles jumper as the first 22 selections are called out on the first of three nights of the draft.
Back in Tongala there will be a salute of sorts to the star who, if his name is called out first, will become the region’s second number one selection of the past 20 years, following in the footsteps of Kyabram’s Brett Deledio, who was taken at number one in the 2004 national draft.
Ironically, Deledio will be playing with Tongala next season after his brother-in-law Billy Barnes took on the coaching role and his father Wayne and brother Matt all agreed to become involved with the club.
Tongala Football Netball Club has secured funding through the National Centre for Farmer Health and decided to stage a colour run and community event to coincide with draft night.
The money will be used to pay for some of the obstacles on the colour run course as well as the colour paint and some decorations that will add to the party atmosphere at the recreation reserve.
One of the event’s major organisers, Kaitlyn Ohlsen, said the club was always planning on hosting an event for draft night and this seemed like the perfect opportunity given the success of a similar event at Tongala Primary School last year.
“The wider community is welcome to attend. Entry is free and it’s a gold coin for the barbecue,” she said.
The club has also recently received a grant from the Tongala Mathoura Community Bank to go towards plasma televisions to display club memorabilia, as well as a contribution towards new netball dresses and new football jumpers for under-12 and under-14 players
The club held its annual general meeting on Monday night.
The draft night celebration and colour run will be held before the live stream of the AFL National Draft at 5.30pm.
