Frustrated West Coast midfielder Elliot Yeo is desperate to resume his role as Harley Reid's protector, but revealed he may require more surgery before being able to play again.
Yeo has officially been ruled out of a return for 2025 because of the syndesmosis ankle injury he suffered in the pre-season.
Two bouts of surgery have failed to fix the issue, with Yeo still exploring his options about what to do next.
"A few weeks ago I tried to increase my training load and running capacity, and just couldn't do it," Yeo told 96FM.
"I just kept getting sore in the ankle joint and syndesmosis joint.
"More complications, which means more opinions, more specialist talk. There's two or three different options we can do.
"We are trying to do everything we can before having to go under the knife again and fix it."
Yeo didn't hold back when talking about his frustrations.
"It just feels like a wasted year," Yeo said.
"A young team, you want to be out there to help. Not being able to do that - it infuriates me being on the sidelines."
The biggest flow-on effect from Yeo's injury is the extra attention that's been paid to Reid.
Yeo was Reid's biggest protector last year, pulling away the 20-year-old from physical altercations on numerous occasions.
Without Yeo this year, Reid has been caught up in regular wrestles, with the No.1 draft pick now having been fined a whopping 13 times by the match review officer in his 38-game career.
"Last year I felt like he got targeted a fair bit, and I was there to protect him and shield him to basically get him to play his best football," Yeo said.
"He's a young kid, he can get caught up in it all.
"That's the annoying part. I wish I could be out there to help him, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I can do that next year."
Reid, who is out of contract at the end of next season, produced one of his most mature performances in last week's 49-point loss to Richmond.
After racking up 20 disposals and six clearances in the first half, Reid was restricted to just four possessions in the third quarter after copping a hard tag.
Instead of letting his frustrations boil over, Reid went into attack in the final term and kicked two goals.
"I spoke to him after the game. I said I was proud of him and the way he went about it," Yeo said.
Reid is set to cop plenty more attention in Saturday's western derby against Fremantle.
The Eagles (1-17) are headed for a second wooden spoon in three seasons, but have the chance to deal a major blow to the top-four hopes of Fremantle (12-6).
