If Oscar Allen decides to make the wrenching decision to leave West Coast, he could play for any one of half a dozen clubs, including teams that are firmly in the premiership window.
Hawthorn, the Brisbane Lions and Collingwood are among the suitors. It is a safe bet that Melbourne will be looking at Allen, and Essendon would be foolish not to entertain the West Coast co-captain given their scarcity of leadership and a mature key forward to support Nate Caddy.
Star West Coast forward Oscar Allen would be a man in demand if he left the Eagles.Credit: AFL Photos
The Eagles have a long-term contract offer on the table for Allen – contrary to speculation that they’d low-balled him with a shorter-term in negotiations, according to a source with knowledge of discussions (speaking anonymously).
Thus, it is evident that West Coast’s preference is to retain him, despite the reality that Allen would fetch the club a very high draft pick – based on pre-season ladder predictions, a free agency compensation pick would sit inside the top five and, if they finish bottom two (premature projections, yes – it’s early days), that pick would land inside the top three.
Allen is one of those players who finds himself at the intersection of various forces and events.
One is that there are clubs, headed by Hawthorn and the Lions, that can run the same kind of pitch that landed his ex-teammate Tom Barrass and Joe Daniher respectively.
Premiership-winning former Eagle Tom Barrass (right, pictured here with new teammate Josh Battle) looks destined for success at his new club, Hawthorn.Credit: AFL Photos
Those clubs can offer team success – there’s no guarantee of it at any club, but the Lions and Hawks, in particular, are in pole position for the next couple of years. Sam Mitchell knows Allen from his West Coast days, as does his key assistant Adrian Hickmott.
Collingwood have an older list and some huge holes opening up, but aren’t planning to go gently into the good night (as Steele Sidebottom, Scott Pendlebury and Jeremy Howe rage against the dying of the light). They can be counted on to have a crack at Allen.
Oscar Allen and Harley Reid.Credit: Getty Images
Melbourne, too, can get back in the premiership mix if younger players develop quickly and Clayton Oliver reprises performances in the same postcode of his zenith.
And one can safely guess there will be other clubs considering Allen, if for no other reason than the fact that he will not cost them a single draft pick, as a free agent (West Coast would be unlikely to match, considering the compensation system).
The other factors, or forces, that are part of the Allen equation are:
1. His injury record. He has had issues with his body (knee mostly) and missed chunks of recent seasons. But, encouragingly, he has put together a string of games from late last year into 2025.
West Coast would be making a bet on his body. So would the suitors, and they would be doing so in the knowledge that if they jag a flag with Allen, the risks of him breaking down later are more than offset.
The Lions succeeded with Daniher, who had been injury-wracked. Hawthorn’s medicos are high quality, too. Does Allen want to continue getting on a plane every second week? That geographic reality favours Melbourne clubs.
2. His position as a captain of the Eagles. This columnist is not enamoured of the notion of captains and core people leaving their club. Ideally, he would stay in his home state, providing mentoring, guidance and standards for the large crew of kids at West Coast.
3. The draft return for West Coast, if he goes, is greater than what he would likely fetch in a normal trade – it is tantamount to what Tom Lynch delivered to Gold Coast in 2018 (Izak Rankine), albeit the draft of this year is not rated nearly as highly as last year’s or 2018.
4. Harley Reid’s situation. It is by no means clear whether Reid will be in play to leave later this year or not – and he is contracted. West Coast can hold firm on the barnstorming 2023 pick No.1. That said, it would be difficult to sell the concept of letting both Reid and Allen leave, irrespective of the huge gains in return. “They’d tear the grandstands apart,” said one former West Coast official.
5. Despite my misgivings about the NBA-style culture taking root in the AFL, as players begin treating their employers (clubs) like law firms and consider moves mid-career for success, money or family, it is undeniable that the competition is careening into the more freewheeling LeBronomy.
Allen, it follows, has every right to consider Hawthorn, the Lions and the rest. Does he want to spend three more years – his prime – in a West Coast team that has little prospect of contending? It might turn late in his career. Is he willing to bear that burden, pay that price?
Not that it matters, but I’d rather see him stick with West Coast’s old-new crew of Andrew “Mini” McQualter, CEO Don Pyke, John Worsfold and list manager Matt Clarke and provide the leadership scaffolding for the club to build around.
6. If they did let Allen leave as a free agent, it would be far easier to accept – and sell – if a player of Chad Warner’s calibre was coming to West Coast.
Warner has had an offer on the table from Sydney for some time. There has been media talk that he’s more than likely to stay with the Swans, signing a two-year deal to be a free agent in 2027.
According to what I’ve gathered, from a knowledgeable industry source (not willing to be on record), Warner is still undecided between staying and heading home to either West Coast or Fremantle, but his call will not be shaped at all by what happens with Allen or Reid.
The notion of a skipper jumping ship, once highly inflammatory, is less shocking than when Leigh Colbert walked from the Cats – helping facilitate their incredible rise – a quarter-century ago.
Allen has much to ponder. So do the Eagles.
