West Coast star Elliot Yeo is hoping for more minutes in the Eagles’ engine room this weekend, after being closely managed over the past two weeks.

And with Tim Kelly’s injury potentially sidelining the Glendinning-Allan medallist for up to four weeks, it’s looking likely Yeo will have an increasingly important role to play in the midfield.

“Depends on minutes, I think the progression is that I will play more midfield time, it’s just a matter of when they’ll allow that,” Yeo told 96FM.

“Hopefully it’s this week, I’m not too sure just yet, it’s one of those stepping stones.”

Yeo is coming off a steady fortnight after his battle with osteitis pubis, playing managed minutes in both the WAFL and AFL.

But the premiership player is keen to be back on the park, after attempting to “sneak a couple more minutes” for his first game back at WAFL-level.

“Nup, didn’t get any,” Yeo laughed.

“I was hoping that it would be flexible. You can try and delay the inevitable as much as you can, there will be times when you get called off, and you might pinch another minute or two.

“But in the end, once you’re on the pine, they’ll pull you out and make you sit however long you’ll need to be.”

However, Yeo did manage a few sneaky minutes of his own this week, at his former grassroots football club, Booragoon.

Alongside teammate Tom Barrass, the pair ran coaching clinics into the night.

“They were over the moon, the Auskickers, they’re like oh yeah sweet, they don’t really know what’s going on, but then as you get a bit older, then they start to really appreciate and take notice of when you come down," Yeo said.

“They were looking really good down there at my old stomping ground, they made me sing the song which was pretty cool.”

Now, the West Coast outfit now pack their bags for blustery Sydney, where they’ll take on a strong Carlton Blues side; boasting the likes of Sam Walsh, Patrick Cripps and Harry McKay.

The young Eagles side will be attempting to break the SCG winning drought, where they haven’t won a match since 1999.

“When I go over there I don’t think of that at all, first time I’ve actually heard that,” Yeo said.

“In my experience, it hasn’t felt like I’ve won a game at the SCG, for me you wanna get that one off the back.

“It’s gonna be tough, it’s obviously a tough trip, but also in saying that, Carlton are playing some very good football.

“We’re going to have our work cut out for us, it’s not going to be easy, I’m looking forward to it, it’s going to be a good challenge.”