Waalitj Marawar coach Andrew McQualter has praised the team’s leaders for driving the recent improvements in performance.

Although defeats to Essendon and Richmond by two points apiece have been tough to swallow, the evidence of better football has helped keep McQualter’s young team pushing hard at training and on gameday.

“It’s a really good question because we’re all satisfied by the win and singing the song, so that’s real,” McQualter said about maintaining the players’ belief after a winless start.

“It’s about just finding the evidence of where our game is improving, continuing to show it and backing it up with some data and evidence and then understanding we’re not where we want to be.

“We’ve still clearly got work to do and lots of parts of our game are not where they need to be.

“Then it comes down to the leaders being really strong and embracing that, and our leaders have been outstanding in the last month driving our game and our standards.

“They’re doing a great job.”

The Eagles expect co-captain Oscar Allen will return from a minor knee issue to face Euro-Yroke (St Kilda) on Sunday at Optus Stadium, but it is yet to be determined whether he will start in defence or attack.

“It’s one of those discussions we’re having every week with ‘Oz’,” McQualter said.

“We’ll keep having those discussions and put him in a place where he helps our team the most. We haven’t decided for this week.

“We’ll get through training today and see where it lands.”

Vice-captain Jeremy McGovern will miss a second match in the concussion protocols, while young gun Bo Allan is available after his one-match suspension.

McQualter will go head-to-head with his former mentor Ross Lyon on Sunday, after previously coaching against him when he held the interim role at Richmond.

The Eagles’ mentor is under no illusions about the challenge against the Saints, who hold a 4-5 record and some big scalps against Geelong, Fremantle and Port Adelaide.

“We haven’t spoken this week but I’ve definitely spoken to Ross since I’ve got the job,” McQualter said.

“I’ve got a long-standing relationship with him, a lot of respect for him, terrific coach and he was a great mentor for me.

“I think if you watch the Saints this year they’re fiercely competitive, they work really hard, they’re a hard-running team and they build their game the right way, so we know it’s going to be a big challenge.”

On Tuesday, Waalitj Marawar trained in their Sir Doug Nicholls Round guernsey, designed in collaboration with the club's First Nations players, and are looking forward to representing Indigenous culture in front of their home fans.

“It’s a really special occasion. We get to represent our First Nations players,” McQualter said.

“We spent a bit of time yesterday talking about it and we will over the next couple of days, how much those guys mean to us and their communities and their people.”