West Coast Eagles star Elliot Yeo confident he can rediscover best football after injury return

West Coast star Elliot Yeo says he is confident he can rediscover his best football after returning from a 569-day injury layoff. The 32-year-old returned to the fold in the Eagles’ 59-point loss to Gold Coast at People First Stadium on Sunday after a serious ankle injury wiped out his entire 2025 season. Yeo showed signs of his immense talent which made him a dual All-Australian and club champion, kicking two third-quarter goals and finishing with 17 disposals and two clearances from just 57 per cent game time. The competitive beast was unhappy with West Coast’s 20.11 (131) to 10.12 (72) loss, but it was hard to wipe the smile on his face after his long-awaited comeback. Asked if believes he can get back to his best despite the injury troubles, Yeo emphatically answered: “I do.” “I felt like I played all over the shop.... At one point there I was in the backline, then in the middle and then I was forward,” he told The West Australian. “I was just happy to be out there. The quicker I can get back to full match fitness – I am still on managed minutes – the better. I cannot wait to get in there, crack on and hopefully have a really good season. “They put me on the bench for the second half of the last quarter … I wish I was still out there and still playing for that back half of the last quarter, but I was able to get through, had a good time being out there and just wish we’d had a win.” Yeo is part of a new-look midfield that features No.1 draftee Harley Reid as well as former Brisbane Lion Deven Robertson and last year’s mid-season revelation Tom McCarthy. The refreshed engine room struggled against a powerhouse Suns outfit in the first half that racked up an incredible 60 inside 50s to the Eagles’ 39. While Yeo conceded they needed time to gel as a unit, he said they were in a hurry to get it right so they could start winning games. “I want to say yes, but then there’s also times when we need to get good and we need to get good quick,” he said. “The quicker that we can get some synergy as well in there the better. Obviously, it’s a new look in there with some new players coming through but the more synergy that we can get the better we’ll be. “In the second half we won contested ball and drew level at the stoppages. The second half was a lot better than the first when we got belted. It was why we were able to get into our style of game in the second half.” West Coast coach Andrew McQualter said Yeo’s first game was one of several positives they would take from the tough first outing. “He’s such an influential person in our group and player in our team,” he said. “He’s missed a lot of football now. His daughter’s 18 months old and she wasn’t alive since he last played so that gives you an indication of how much he’s missed. “We’re excited for the work he’s put in and hopefully he has a great season ahead.” Even though Yeo was forced to watch on as the young side won only once in McQualter’s maiden season, he could see the strides they’d made to get them back on the path to success. “Even though we got smashed, I was just happy to be back out there, and I feel as though the conversations that we’re having as a group and how we’re seeing the game – it’s starting to head in the right direction,” he said. “Those are the positive signs whereas I felt like last year we were a bit more like ‘What’s going on here? How do we do this?’. Those conversations we’re having going forward are a lot better. “I feel like everyone’s on the same page and that will help us win more games of football. Everyone can see the game very similarly.” While Yeo had a torrid 2025 football wise, the birth of his daughter Indiana in September of 2024 with now-wife Tess put things into perspective. “It was the silver lining. Having a child changes you. People tell you that it does and you go ‘yeah, yeah, shut up. What would you know? It’s all good’ but then you have a child and your whole world completely changes,” he said. “It was the absolute best thing out of a horrible situation last year. The silver lining was I could spend more time with her. “I love being a dad. She’s my absolute world along with my partner. I thought playing AFL football was the best job in the world, but being a dad is No.1 now.” Don’t expect Yeo to be the “Dad” around the young Eagles though, joking that he switched between being the elder statesman and teenager of the locker room. “I flip between the two. I’ve got Dad energy and then I’ve got 13-year-old energy as well,” he said. “I don’t think the boys know what’s going on or what to expect from me sometimes. “It keeps me young around the young group and I absolutely love being at the football club.”