Tenacious midfield bull Elliott Yeo has always craved the contest and he has been building every week to the point where he was best afield against the Saints.

Yeo spent a lot of his time in the engine room alongside Jack Steele, who is made of similar ilk and has been important in their impressive form in the last month.

But Yeo had the better of the contest and was the most influential Eagle on the ground. His combative nature was to the fore as he accumulated 24 possessions – 20 of which were contested as he got to work at the coalface.

In conjunction with Tim Kelly, Dom Sheed and Andrew Gaff they ensured the Eagles had supply in attack and both Jack Darling and Josh Kennedy were ubiquitous inside the forward 50, kicking three goals apiece.