West Coast simply has to work harder and get better to atone for an “unacceptable effort” against Port Adelaide, midfield star Elliot Yeo says.

While the Eagles have made a number of changes across the season due to injuries and the AFL’s Health and Safety protocols – debuting 11 players across the first six rounds – the team are looking to create much-needed synergy as senior players return to the side.

But Yeo said the forced changes were no excuse, and named inside 50 supply as a key focus, with the Power almost doubling the Eagles’ entries 65 to 34, as well as dominating contested possessions (-34).

“It’s frustrating, it’s difficult as well to get any sort of continuity,” Yeo told 96FM.

“The effort was unacceptable and we don’t really have any excuses, but we have to go back to the drawing board and obviously get better.

“Starts by getting on the track and working hard and working together, but we know the position that we’re in isn’t ideal and we don’t like to lose games, and we don’t like to lose games in the manner that we are as well.

“I think the positives is that, in the end, we’re getting a lot of experience into the younger guys as well now which will be beneficial in the long run for us.

“(But), we need to get the ball to our forwards as much as we can and get supply to ‘JD’ (Jack Darling) and ‘JK’ (Josh Kennedy) and a few others, so we need to get the ball in there as much as we can, and I guess that starts with the midfield as well.

“We’re working to get better and hopefully we can shuffle on up.”

Playing just 16 games alongside skipper Luke Shuey and smooth moving midfielder Tim Kelly, Yeo will now need to wait a further week to line up alongside the duo in the Eagles’ engine room, after entering concussion protocols in the second quarter of the Power clash.

Yeo clashed heads with Port ruckman Sam Hayes and will miss Friday’s clash against Richmond.

“Bit of luck would be nice, hasn’t been the best run unfortunately with injuries,” Yeo said.

“I’d love to play, it’s unfortunate and at the moment I’m not feeling that great, so probably the best thing.

“That’s the concussion protocols in place.”

Spearhead Josh Kennedy is also hoping for an improvement on the Eagles’ last two performances – with the side currently sitting in 17^th – but is also focussing on the positives, including blooding the younger contingent of Eagles’ players.

Ruckman Bailey Williams, 2021 mid-season recruit Connor West and Luke Foley have all been amongst the West Coast’s most improved for the season, with just 34 games’ experience between them, while debutants Patrick Naish and Hugh Dixon have also shown some good signs early in the season.

“The list we’ve got, I’ve always had a belief in what we’re doing, we have got some really good young kids who are coming through,” Kennedy told 6PR.

“As much as it doesn’t feel like it or look like it at the moment, I think we’re making some really good in road with a lot of those younger guys and some of those second-tier guys.

“There’s always times where you’ve got to ride this little downhill of a rollercoaster, but there’s belief in the playing group that over the next few years they’ll bounce out and they’ll be riding that upwards trend.

“It is a great club. For the years going forward, the club’s in really good hands."