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An emotion-charged Elliot Yeo has defended his bristly post-game interview following the surprise loss to Richmond, saying he would not change his loyal and passionate approach in an effort to make West Coast better.
Yeo garnered some attention in the immediate aftermath of last weekend’s home defeat to the lowly Tigers, when he scoffed at a question about whether the Eagles were in a rut and labelled it a “blasé comment” and “not the right term”.
Speaking on Tuesday, Yeo said the reaction to his interview had “gone wild, and not in the way that I thought” and that “emotions were high” in the moments after the defeat as he struggled to articulate his thoughts.
But the 32-year-old stood by his sentiment.

“I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t,” Yeo said on 96FM.
“If I don’t back my team, there’s more headlines as well.
“And of course I back my team. I back the football club and where we’re going, and I can see the positive change that we’re starting to make.

“I know that’s hard, because of the performances that we’ve put in, but there are small incremental changes and positives that we have gone after.

“Of course we’re disappointed. Of course there’s a lot of hard work to come, and there’s a mountain of that to work (through) and we need to get better.”
One of four remaining Eagles from the 2018 premiership side, Yeo left no illusion as to his commitment to the blue-and-gold.

“I love this football club. I love the players, I love the people within the four walls, and of course I’m going to defend them,” Yeo said.

“Of course I’m combative. Of course I’m loyal. And of course I’m going to back the people that are within the four walls of the football club.

“I love the footy club. I love my team. I love the West Coast Eagles, and I’m going to bleed until basically someone taps me on the shoulder and says ‘the sun isn’t shining for you any more, mate, and time’s up’.
“Until then, I’m going to give everything I possibly can to this football club.”

Yeo has been one of West Coast’s biggest positives in his return after missing all of last season, averaging 20 disposals in his five completed games and adding eight goals. The veteran is also the Eagles’ leading tackler this season.
The WA club this week travel to Marvel Stadium to face an improved Melbourne side as they desperately look to snap a five-match slide and earn their first win in Victoria since 2023.
Yeo said he was confident things would turn for the rebuilding unit.

“Who likes losing? I hate losing,” he said.

“But how can you not see the positives in the direction we’re going? I know that’s hard at the moment, but the kids we’ve got coming through… they’re going to be stars of the game.”

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>West Coast defender Tom McCarthy has backed in his coach Andrew McQualter’s view of their shock loss to Richmond, saying his side was “actually happy” with most aspects of their performance.

>In front of their 2006 premiership heroes at Optus Stadium on Saturday, the Eagles were not able to overcome the injury-depleted and previously winless Tigers, going down by 11 points despite taking the lead twice in the final term.

>But in his post-match press conference, McQualter said his team had “improved” and they would not “catastrophise” their defeat to a side who remain last on the ladder.

>McCarthy conceded the mood in the Eagles’ post-game meeting was “pretty flat”, but said McQualter’s message had focused on the upsides of their performance.

>“He was actually pretty positive on how we went, because it was a big improvement on how we went last week. He said if the scoreboard wasn’t there, he’d be happy with our game, but obviously, we lost,” he said.

>”We just got told we owned inside-50’s, we did play our way, we just didn’t capitalise at both ends with our uncontested marking and scoreboard impact.

>”We were actually happy for the most part, but it definitely hurts.

>”Don’t underestimate it, we’re really disappointed with how we’re going compared to the start of the year, but we’re still learning. We came close today and probably had our chances to win but didn’t, so we’ve got to get to work on that.”

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