Eagle Yeo faces one-game ban
West Coast could be without Elliot Yeo for Sunday’s clash against Geelong at Domain Stadium, with the midfielder today offered a one-game ban for striking.
The match review panel charged Yeo for a late collision with St Kilda’s Jimmy Webster during the second quarter of the Eagles’ big win at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The strike was classified as careless, with medium impact to the head, drawing a two-game ban which can be reduced to one with a guilty plea.
Webster was forced from the field with the blood rule and was later substituted out of the game due to concussion which stemmed from a separate incident in which he collided with a teammate.
Earlier today teammate Luke Shuey was confident Yeo, who has won plenty of fans during an outstanding month, would be cleared.
“We'll worry about that (replacing him) if it (a suspension) happens,” he said this morning. “But we're fairly confident he'll be right.”
Shuey said he not been surprised with their form in 2015 in which they sit second on the ladder with a 6-2 record on the back of five consecutive victories.
“We were positive coming into the year so we were confident we were going to get wins on the board,” he said. “The challenge now is to put it behind us because we’ve got another tough game this week.”
Season-ending knee injuries to key defenders Eric Mackenzie and Mitch Brown did not alter their aspirations, according to Shuey.
“We knew we had guys that could go down there and play a role for us,” he said. “They are holding up remarkably well. “We are not surprised by it. “We knew what we were going to get. “We have got a really good system in place and it’s working for us at the moment, which is good.”
The much-maligned Eagles’ midfield has helped drive their resurgence and Shuey said hard work was the reason for the turnaround.
“The young kids are developing pretty quickly, which is always nice, and we’ve got one of the best ruckmen in the competition giving us first use of the ball most weeks so a lot of things have fallen into place for us,” he said. “But I think the underlying thing is just hard work and we’ve got to try and sustain for the rest of the year.”
Shuey was unsure if vice-captain Scott Selwood would take on his brother Joel when they take on Geelong at Domain Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Scott Selwood came on as the sub against the Saints after six weeks out with an ankle injury, while Joel was upset by the tagging tactics of Carlton last Friday night.
“It's only Monday, so Simmo's got five or six days to think about it,” Shuey said.
“He's had another good year so far Joel. “He copped a bit of attention Friday night against Carlton. “It's something to think about, but you never know.”
