There is no substitute for hard work.

It’s a saying attributed to Edison, rather than Elliot or Elijah, but it’s one that Eagles veteran Yeo hopes his younger teammate Hewett will heed as he looks to get through his early-season form slump.

Hewett has battled to showcase his immense talent in his first four games to start the season, averaging only 10.5 touches, including only three against Fremantle and eight in the loss to Richmond at the weekend.

The 21-year-old former first-round draft pick is out of contract at the end of this season and facing selection pressure, despite the Eagles needing him to build on his strong 2025 season, when he played 20 games and averaged 16 touches.

Yeo said he used his own early-career form struggles to mentor the midfielder, who is still fighting to secure a consistent spot in the Eagles’ best 23.

“I’ve been in his ear a few times. I had something similar in terms of a year in 2016, where things just weren’t coming together,” Yeo said.

“You try everything you possibly can, and they’re just not coming together, but the talent is still there, and the only way that you can really get out of that is through hard work and just trying your absolute best.

“Playing your role as a teammate as well can help. So there’s a variety of different things that I’ve said to him to keep him positive and to keep him in the right mindset.

“As a football club and as a team, we need to help him and get behind him and do as much as we possibly can to help those guys that are struggling.”

Yeo said there were several things Hewett could do to turn his form around quickly.

“It’s a bit of everything, really, to be honest. For me, looking back on ‘16, it was more just trying to play my role for the team towards the end and what I need to do in order to best help them,” he said.

“And that wasn’t purely based on touches and everything like that. It was more running patterns, and role, and ‘how can I help?’

“Then in ‘17 I got pushed to half-back. That was probably a handy move towards the end, looking back on it.

“I have full faith in Elijah that he will get through it, and he’ll continue to work hard, which he is, and he’ll find his feet.”

Yeo also conceded the young Eagles as a whole needed to get better when it comes to discipline with free kicks and 50m penalties hurting them on the scoreboard.

West Coast sits second for free kicks against, while they gave away seven more in the loss to the Tigers, including a crucial late 50m penalty, which resulted in a goal when the game was in the balance.

Yeo said the playing group had addressed it this week as they looked to rectify the issue.

“They’re hurting us. I had a 50m penalty, obviously, with the stand rule; the rules are there. You’ve got to follow them, which is frustrating, but we need to get better and stop giving away 50m penalties and free kicks because they’re hurting us,” he said.

“The 50m penalty — by the time I heard stand it was too late. Obviously, after that, it’s frustrating, but 50,000, 60,000 people screaming very loud by the time I heard stand I turned around, and it was too late.

“And the fact that it was close to their goal and cost us one, that’s just as frustrating and just as disappointing. So yeah, I need to get better.”