Elliot Yeo has revealed how a lengthy stint on the interchange bench freshened him up for a match-shaping final term in the frenzied finish against Richmond.

In his third AFL game back from nearly 10 months out battling osteitis pubis, the ultra-competitive onballer showed West Coast fans exactly what they had been missing in a huge last stanza.

Yeo gathered half of his 20 disposals – including nine of his 15 kicks and the all-important last centre clearance after Josh Kennedy’s stunning snap – as the Eagles surged to a famous four-point victory.

The dual club champion played 72 per cent game time on Sunday night, but spent just 62 per cent of the third term on the ground, preparing him for an 83 per cent stint in the last quarter.

“It felt like the third quarter I sat the majority of it, hardly touched the footy,” Yeo told 96FM.

“I was going cold and was thinking ‘oh no, I’m going to go down without touching the footy and it’s not going to be great’.

“In the last (quarter) I ended up getting a bit more minutes and once the game was there to be won they said ‘OK, we’ll let you do your thing, mate. Off you go’.

“Having those extra minutes was great but you’ve got to be careful in the same sense, but I pulled up great, which is fine.”

Yeo has built his game time from 64 to 66 and 72 per cent across his three matches so far and, crucially, hasn’t felt any lingering groin soreness.

“You pull up and you get your general soreness, but the groin is holding up really well, so I can’t complain," he said.

“The more minutes I can play the better, really.

“I feel like I’m one of those players that gets in the game and can really grind it out. So it’s hard when you’re always stop-starting.

“You’re coming on, you’re feeling good, you’re starting to get your hands on the footy a bit and then you go sit on the bench for five or 10 minutes.

“It can be a bit frustrating but I’m starting to get my head around how it all works.”

Yeo said he felt like every other fan willing Kennedy's fourth goal through against the Tigers, and credited the raucous Eagles crowd for helping inspire Sunday’s comeback.

The wall of noise rose with each major during West Coast's match-winning run and climbed to a crescendo as Shannon Hurn grabbed the match-saving mark with just seconds remaining.

“I honestly think we’ve got the best fans. It’s so loud out there on the ground and our fans are just so die-hard supportive,” Yeo said.

“It’s probably a bit more subconscious but you always think as an opposition there might be a little less time when you’ve got the football, so it just adds a bit more pressure and our fans are really good at that.

“We thrive on that because it’s obviously our crowd as well so that’s probably why they helped us get home like a wet sail in the end.”

Following some well-earned rest and relaxation, the Eagles return to the club on Thursday and their attention will quickly shift to facing the red-hot Western Bulldogs in round 15.

For the first time this year, Yeo could form a starting centre square quartet with ruck talisman Nic Naitanui and fellow midfield stars Luke Shuey (hamstring) and Tim Kelly (knee) for the challenge against arguably the competition’s deepest onball brigade.

“It’s looking likely that we might get a few players back, which is huge, but also the Western Bulldogs are running pretty hot,” he said.

“It was a pretty good game, pretty close, last time we played them back over in Melbourne but I think they’ve improved from then.

“We can’t go into the game thinking we’ve got it won, especially after the Richmond game because it’s all fine and dandy, because it’s definitely going to be a hot game.”