Caitlin Bassett: West Coast Eagles need to avoid being too reliant on Harley Reid’s drive to pull them along

Emotional contagion is the phenomenon where one person’s emotions transfer to another and in a team it can be extremely powerful — just look at Harley Reid.

You can’t dispute this the case when you watch the once-in-a-generation talent in action. The energy shift among his teammates — and the tens of thousands of people watching — when you see him in touching distance of the ball is incredible.

It’s an instant belief from anyone watching that something good will happen.

Having someone in your team who can not just lift the playing group but the entire stadium when they touch the ball is something money can’t buy.

It is part of what makes Reid invaluable to the Eagles.

We can all agree he’s a special player, but with just six games to his name I worry that the team is already reliant on him to bring the excitement when energy levels are down.

Without him last week, West Coast never looked confident. The drive that won them back-to-back games seemed to have deserted them.

The Giants used to have the same problem with Toby Greene.

The once polarising figure who has become one of the most highly rated players in the game posseses the same ability as Reid to turn a game on its head.

This was great when he was on the field but when he was sidelined due to suspension or injury GWS struggled to fire with the same intensity.

Last week Greene failed to escape a one-match ban yet dispite missing their captain, star fullback Sam Taylor and former captain Stephen Coniglio, the Giants found a way to demolish Brisbane who were favoured to win.

There is nothing wrong with having a spiritual leader that rallies a group but individual players need to be able to find a way to create a spark to ignite themselves.

No team that has sustained success has done it off the back of one player’s energy.

The next stage of the Eagles rebuilding is finiding ways to succeed in Reid’s absence.