West Coast veteran Andrew Gaff will be playing for his round one spot in the club’s pre-season hit-outs.
The 31-year-old came under intense heat as he struggled through the club’s miserable season last year.
Gaff was even identified by damning figures as the worst kick in the competition, which continued a steady decline in his ball use that began even before he missed the club’s premiership in 2018.
But he was one of just four Eagles players to feature in all 23 games in 2023.
Elliot Yeo is set to reprise his spot in West Coast’s midfield in 2024 after an off-season that has nursed him back to full health.
Perhaps the player most emblematic of the Eagles’ fall from grace, Yeo hasn’t played more than 12 games in a season since 2019.
Soft tissue injuries have robbed the 30-year-old of the prime seasons of his career, with Yeo already a dual All-Australian and 2018 premiership star.
As the Eagles hope to show signs of the future, Yeo looms as a key part.
SEN WA’s Mark Duffield has spent time at Mineral Resources Park in recent weeks and was taken by Yeo’s output.
“He looks like a different athlete to me. I’m not saying he’s smaller or slimmer or anything like that, it just looks like more muscle through his upper legs, backside, core, it looks like his preparations have been different and it looks like he’s going alright,” he said of Yeo on SEN WA Mornings.
