Adam Simpson has declared Elliot Yeo a certain starter in the midfield for West Coast’s clash with Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, despite a knee scare in last weekend’s win over Richmond at Optus Stadium.

Yeo was named in the extended squad yesterday and will travel with his teammates to Melbourne this afternoon.

Star defender Jeremy McGovern won’t travel until tomorrow after welcoming his first child this week.

Simpson said top draft pick Jarrod Brander would not be making his debut against the Hawks, forecasting a largely unchanged line up when the team is trimmed this afternoon.

“No, he won’t play,” Simpson said. “We’ll go in pretty much unchanged this week, but he’s not far off.”

The Eagles had grave fears when Yeo went down with a right knee problem last Sunday.

“When he went down during the game we were really worried about what might have happened,” Simpson said. “But we were really pleased to report he is going to be fine and he’ll play this week.

“(The scan showed) Nothing. It was pretty superficial. And he came back on and was probably our best player behind (Jack) Darling, so that is always a good sign. So it was just how he pulled up. He pulled up a bit sore but we took a pretty light approach this week and we need to get him running around in Melbourne but at this stage he is playing.”

McGovern will have an extra day with his family after Tuesday’s birth.

“Sometimes you just catch yourself enjoying the moment, and I've seen him do that a couple of times at training, where he just realises he's a father and he's very proud of it all, and it's all healthy, and Hudson is going well,” Simpson said.

“That's great. We've got a lot of babies coming through at the moment.

“It can be (a distraction), of course. These moments in time when your family comes first, you do need to make sure you get the balance right. I wouldn't be too critical of him if he was over thinking his family, making sure they're OK. That's just life.”