West Coast Eagles midfield bull Elliot Yeo is bracing himself for an “eery” feeling when he takes the field at Optus Stadium on Sunday.
The two-time John Worsfold medallist has become accustomed to running out in front of almost 60,000 screaming fans at every home fixture for the past two years, but that won’t be the case this weekend.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic fans will not be permitted to attend games for the foreseeable future, which means Perth’s premier sporting cauldron will be empty when the Eagles and Demons go to war.
Yeo said West Coast would have to manufacture its own atmosphere in the absence of its parochial blue and gold army.
“We are certainly a team that thrives off the crowd and our supporters, having them there,” Yeo conceded.
“It’s going to be different and we’re going to have to create our own energy. It’s going to be a challenge, but we’re up for it.”
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While the atmosphere will be unlike any he has experienced during his eight seasons in the AFL, Yeo said he was excited for the home and away campaign to get underway.
The 26-year-old said he was glued to his phone yesterday waiting to hear whether or not the 2020 season would proceed.
“Obviously it was a late call yesterday night,” Yeo said.
“We were all sitting there waiting in anticipation to see whether or not it would all go through, but we had a conference call on Tuesday and we all said we were pretty keen to play.
“Things can change pretty rapidly as well, so we could be in a different position the same time next week.
“They may even postpone it next week depending on how quickly this thing snowballs. It’s literally wait and see, but (the AFL and club) are putting everything in place to keep us all healthy and trying to keep us fit to play football.”