Elliot Yeo had been building towards a performance of this magnitude and last night he delivered.

The Eagles midfield bull, who missed a full season with osteitis pubis, has taken time to build match hardness, as was expected given the long time he spent out of the game. Not only that but a compromised pre-season where his output was constantly tweaked.

The ultra-competitive Yeo will take little solace from his best afield performance that almost elevated the Eagles to victory against Melbourne.

He was at his ferocious best with a 31 possession game, 20 of them contested, had a game-high 14 clearances and sent the ball inside his team’s attacking arc on eight occasions.

Yeo also gained a massive 726 metres with ball in hand and will be a key factor in the club’s drive for a seventh successive finals campaign.