West Coast Eagles star Elliot Yeo says inside midfielders need to do more to help runners such as Andrew Gaff

West Coast midfield star Elliot Yeo says Andrew Gaff’s four-disposal effort against Port Adelaide was as much a “by-product” of a poor effort from the engine room as it was a bad outing for the veteran winger. It was a career-worst day for Gaff, who was subbed out of the 50-point defeat at Adelaide Oval on Sunday early in the third quarter, leading to coach Adam Simpson declaring he will be dropped for the club’s home opener against GWS. However, Yeo, who made a positive start to his 2024 campaign with 20 disposals, six tackles and five clearances, said the group inside the contest need to do more to help their outside runners such as Gaff. “We were struggling all day with our ball movement. As players, we can certainly help out Gaffy and a few of our forwards, especially,” he said. “We found it tough in the midfield, even to get our hands on the football, so you can’t do that. If we can’t feed it out to anyone, those boys on the outside are going to find it very, very hard, and the guys down forward will find it hard to get the football as well. “They’re all by-products of things we need to get better at and work on. It’s not just those boys - it’s a collective effort to be able to help one another. “He’s just a by-product of a poor game from everyone, minus maybe a few.” Yeo was quick to back Gaff to make a rapid return to the senior side, calling him a “competitive animal”. “Today (Gaff’s) obviously upset, and that’s football. It’s a brutal game, so he knows he needs to work on a few things, but to his credit, the whole of pre-season, I’ve never seen someone work so hard on his role, and unfortunately on the weekend he was a by-product of us not being able to get our hands on the football,” he added. “Hopefully, he will find some more confidence and go back and continue to execute what he needs to do, and I’m sure because he is such a proud man and he’s a competitive animal. He will be back in a few weeks.” One of the few bright notes out of the Eagles’ season-opening loss was star draftee Harley Reid, who finished his debut with 16 touches, an effort that didn’t go unnoticed by West Coast’s leaders. “I thought Harley did really well, just with the amount of pressure. For a young kid that’s 18 and cops a lot, he seems to handle it very well and to be able to perform and execute on the weekend as he did for his first game was a phenomenal effort,” Yeo said. “I absolutely love (Reid’s approach). He’s got that absolute grunt in him. You can’t teach that, but I love that. He’s a super competitive beast, and he’s going to be a phenomenal player going forward for us. “If he continues to bring that along with his other attributes, I’m sure he’ll be a fan favourite.”