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The West Coast Eagles can’t and won’t deny the hype around No.1 draft pick Harley Reid.

But the AFL wooden spooners say they can manage it.

Reid has been in the spotlight since the start of last season and the 18-year-old midfielder has been likened to Richmond star Dustin Martin.

We’re definitely aware of it and I get the excitement around Harley,” Eagles CEO Don Pyketold SEN Radio on Wednesday.

“He’s a great young man and he’s going to be a fantastic player for us for a long time.

“There’s obviously an excitement, which is great, but we still have to remember he’s an 18-year-old who’s coming into his first AFL season.

Pyke declared that the Eagles would keep Reid’s media and off-field commitments to a reasonable level, despite the outside interest.

“We’re mindful of it. I don’t want to hose it down. It’s a bit of, ‘let’s try and manage that as best we can’,” he said.

“He’s been fantastic. He’s really embraced that. But as I said, he’s an 18-year-old going into his first AFL season.

The Eagles finished last after a horror 2023 season and Reid is a natural beacon of hope.

But he has already been in the spotlight for hamstring concerns during the preseason.

“We’ve just got to be mindful of his load, not only his media load but also his training load as we get him ready for the season,” Pyke said.

That’s a sort of a watching brief for probably myself, the footy department and certainly the media department around how much is too much.

“But to date, he’s handled it really well, but we’ll see how it progresses.”

West Coast will travel to face Port Adelaide in round one of the 2024 AFL season.