WEST Coast forward Willie Rioli has revealed close mentoring from premiership cousins Cyril and Daniel has been pivotal to his explosive debut season.

A hamstring injury will prevent Cyril from playing against West Coast at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, while Daniel returned from a foot injury in the VFL last weekend.

But the pair have been in constant contact with Willie and he said their advice had been invaluable.

“I’m pretty lucky to have Daniel and Cyril at the top level,” Rioli said.

“I speak to them all the time and I get messages from them every week. They tell me to apply pressure to the game, bring energy to the group and then the goals will come.

“We really rely on each other to let us know how we go defensively. We don’t watch the good things we do.

“It’s more the stuff off the ball that we base our game on.

“Daniel sent me a message last week to congratulate me and he said I’d played well.

“I’m a bit disappointed I won’t get to play against them, but it’s good for us as a team.”

Rioli has been a revelation, kicking seven goals from his eight matches this year.

But improved fitness and physicality have also been a feature of his game.

Only noted runners Andrew Gaff and Chris Masten have covered more ground than Rioli at Optus Stadium during West Coast’s past two home games.

Rioli has shed 10kg in the past year and ran an average of 14.4km against Richmond and Port Adelaide.

“That’s something I’ve worked really hard on,” Rioli said.

“I’m covering the ground really well. It’s something I needed to work on and I’m getting into dangerous positions because I’m working hard.

“I do a lot of unrewarded running. But if it means I have to run an extra 500m just to eventually tackle someone, I’ll do it because that’s my role.

“I just go out there to run and have fun.”

The Eagles remain hopeful Elliot Yeo (knee) and Luke Shuey (hamstring) will play on Sunday.

Yeo sprained the medial ligament in his right knee against Richmond but kept playing.

General manager of football Craig Vozzo said they needed to train well tomorrow.

“There’s a bit of swelling, but he’s tracking actually quite well. He will build lightly into the week and he’ll be a test later on this week,” Vozzo said of Yeo.

“Luke is tracking well.

“He is doing more and more on the track and integrating into training more and more.”