West Coast coach Andrew McQualter has lauded Eagles champion Elliot Yeo ahead of his 200th game in blue and gold on Sunday.
A dual John Worsfold medallist, including in the 2018 premiership season, and two-time All-Australian, Yeo’s legacy at West Coast is profound.
The 32-year-old has battled injury in recent seasons but to achieve the 200-game landmark is a testament to his resilience and ongoing importance to West Coast’s developing team.
“He plays a huge role. As you get older you can’t do everything you could do as a young player, but he still has such a critical role within our team,” McQualter said.
“His ability to influence contest – not always win them – but to influence contest is as good as anyone I’ve seen.”
Yeo is set for his 15th appearance for the season against the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium, coming off a 2025 campaign when he didn’t feature due to a serious ankle setback.
A driving force in the Eagles’ powerful engine room during the late 2010s, Yeo has evolved to split time between midfield and forward this year as young onballers progress.
McQualter recalled attempting to plot against Yeo during his days as an assistant coach at Richmond, when the Eagles and Tigers were fighting for premierships.
“Such a competitor,” McQualter said. “He was just such a difficult match-up to plan against.
“He obviously didn’t play any footy last year which was really tough for him and for us but the way he’s bounced back this year and he’s a strong leader within our group.
“He’s got strong opinions, works hard, helps people along the way and it’s a credit to the career he’s had.
“We look forward to celebrating his 200th game for our club on the weekend.”
The Eagles travel to Marvel in a bid to break an 11-game losing streak at the venue, and getting out of the blocks quicker will be key to the result.
West Coast has trailed at quarter-time on 13 occasions in 16 games this season and will tweak its preparation.
“Part of our challenge has been contested ball, so it’s the ability to win the contest and not wait for the game and to step into the game,” McQualter said.
“That’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to be proactive into the game and not wait to see what the game gives us.
“We’ve spent a lot of time talking about it. I know the Dogs will have as well because their games have been dictated to by quarter ones, so it’s going to be a fierce quarter one – it has to be – on the weekend.”
With seven games remaining, McQualter said the Eagles would continue balancing picking the best team to win games each week and developing players for the future.
“We know that we cannot go too young with the team we pick,” he said.
“We’ve just seen too much evidence that when we go that way it’s too hard, so we’ve just got to keep getting the balance right between getting our players playing games together and the right balance of maturity in our team to compete every week.”
