West Coast star midfielder Elliot Yeo has spoken out a day after several of his teammates were fined by the club after they were spotted partying at the Hip-E Club a day after their humiliating 109-point loss to Richmond on April 29.
Defenders Jackson Nelson and Josh Rotham were the first ones to hit the headlines after being snapped at Leederville club (circled up top) before it was revealed that Jake Waterman, Campbell Chesser, Rhett Bazo, Hugh Dixon and Patrick Naish were also there.
On Monday, they were stung with $5000 fines, half of which for each player will be suspended.
“They didn’t break any laws, but they breached club protocol,” Yeo told Clairsy & Lisa on Tuesday morning.
“Obviously we have things in place behind closed doors and they broke them. It’s disappointing given the circumstances and our availability challenges, it’s not ideal.”
Not only have the Eagles have been badly hit by COVID-19, their issues are worsened by a diabolical injury list that includes Nic Naitanui, Luke Shuey, Dom Sheed, Willie Rioli and Yeo.
Lisa suggested that it looked like the now-fined players had perhaps already written the season off.
Hit PLAY to hear Yeo’s response…
Meanwhile, coach Adam Simpson told Ryan Daniels it was important for the club to move on.
“They’re very remorseful. Obviously it’s an error in judgement and we’ll move on,” he told Channel 7.
“With the current environment and where we’re at, it’s just really poor judgement from those boys.
“They’ve got a bit of trust to earn back from the playing group and the club.
“Some of the guys should know better, some of the guys are young and are learning as they go through their careers.
“It’s just the timing. Where we’re at right now as a football club, we need all hands on deck, we need to be on the same page.”
West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett said the club would have suspended the players for one game if the list hadn’t been ravaged by injuries and COVID-19.
“It (suspending players) would be really difficult to do that at the moment with our player availability,” Simpson said.
“I don’t think we can draw upon WAFL players through this instance.”
West Coast sit bottom of the ladder at 1-7 with a percentage of 52 and could add a second wooden spoon to their last-place finish from 2010.
They play an unbeaten Melbourne this Sunday at Optus Stadium.
