By Jack Alfonso and Chris Nice
West Coast has cruised to a 51-point victory over the Western Bulldogs, despite being without senior coach, Adam Simpson.
Despite Simpson's absenece due to family illness, West Coast had no issues in sealing their maiden win of the season under assistant coach, Jaymie Graham.
Veteran Shannon Hurn led the Eagles' charge with 29 disposals, while Jack Darling booted four majors of his own to further sink the Dogs.
A low-pressure opening term, highlighted by a combined total of 21 tackles, continuously swung momentum between the two teams, with constant turnovers and sloppy goal-kicking resulting in a goal-for-goal quarter.
The Western Bulldogs sought to abolish the demons from last week's 82-point thumping at the hands of the Giants, with star midfielder Lachie Hunter slotting the first goal of the term as they attempted to establish early dominance over the Eagles.
West Coast responded through goals to exciting rookies Jake Waterman and Liam Ryan, the latter of whom providing an early contender for mark of the year, although he was unable to finish it off with his second goal .
While the Eagles were determined to prove their worth away from the comforts of Perth, they were unable to string together consecutive majors, keeping the Bulldogs hot on their heels.
Despite leading the uncontested footy, the Bulldogs however failed to assert their dominance over the Eagles, and were left to rue their costly misses, which in hindsight should have resulted in certain conversions.
With both teams relatively equal statistically - with the exception of 2-12 hit-outs - Marcus Bontempelli (7 disposals, one goal) and Shannon Hurn (10 disposals at 100 per cent efficiency) stood out individually for their respective teams.
Contradicting the opening term, both teams came out with newfound intensity.
But it was the Eagles who drew first blood thanks to their sleek ball movement, with the evergreen Andrew Gaff kicking the first of Eagles' unanswered six for the quarter.
The day appeared to be going from bad to worse for the Dogs, as Ryan’s second goal to take West Coast to a 20-point lead was preceded by Lin Jong leaving the field in the arms of
trainers after a head knock from teammate, Tim English.
As the Dogs struggled to move the ball forward from half-back, the Eagles added another four goals, including a spectacular team goal finished off by Waterman, to bolster the themselves to a 39-point advantage at the main break.
The Eagles' ability to defend the high balls inside 50 was proving to be the key difference, with the Bulldogs' defence all at sea against Scott Lycett, Jack Darling, and the high-flying Ryan, further emphasised with the mark inside 50 count sitting at 6-14.
As well as dominating up forward, the Eagles were close to unrivalled in the centre, with Nic Naitanui leading the charge with 25 hit-outs opposed to the Bulldogs' four.
West Coast refused to relent coming into the third quarter, with majors to Mark LeCras and Daniel Venables pushing the Eagles further in front.
Desperate to break the nine-goal streak of their opposition, the Dogs endeavoured to lift their stagnant game play.
Raising the tempo with a frenetic passage of play through the centre of the ground, the Dogs kicked their first goal since the 18-minute mark of the first time, courtesy of Josh Dunkley.
But their breakthrough wasn't to last, with the sluggish Dogs unable to keep up with the Eagles who appeared to be doing it far too easy, resulting in another unchallenged goal to Venables.
Despite a solid patch of footy around the contests in the latter stages of the term and halting West Coast's rampant scoring, the Dogs could only regret their inaccurate 2.7 for the term, leaving the margin again at 39 points going into the final change.
With Jordan Roughead absent through injury in the fourth quarter, the Eagles continued their offensive with LeCras once again jagging the opening goal of the term, before a classy banana from Ryan extended the lead the a game-high 51 points.
Although a four-goal final quarter narrowed the margin, West Coast's six goals for the term did little to lift the Bulldogs' spirits, whose percentage now sits at 38.3.
Darling finished his day with four goals, while Venables and Ryan closed out the match with three goals each.
West Coast will head into next week against Geelong at Optus Stadium, while the Western Bulldogs will hope to notch up their first win of the season when they come up against Essendon on Sunday afternoon.
WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.3 3.6 5.13 9.16 (70)
WEST COAST 3.5 9.9 12.10 18.13 (121)
GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Macrae 3, Hunter 2, Dunkley 2, Bontempelli, Gowers
West Coast: Darling 4, Venables 3, Ryan 3, Waterman 2, Lycett 2, LeCras 2, Cripps, Gaff
BEST
Western Bulldogs: Macrae, McLean, Hunter, Johannisen, Bontempelli
West Coast: Hurn, Darling, Venables, Gaff, Ryan, Lycett
INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Roughead (concussion)
West Coast: Nil
TALKING POINTS
1. THE BULLDOGS HAVE SOME PROBLEMS TO ADDRESS
After an 82-point flogging last week from the Giants, the Bulldogs were set on reversing their fortunes against the Eagles.
But a goalless second quarter and general lack of pressure and grit resulted in their second straight thrashing for the season.
Their midfield sorely missing Tom Liberatore, their defence unable to the limit the Eagles' high-flyers and their forward line close to ineffectual, the Dogs will have a lot of soul-searching to do before their clash with Essendon next week.
Their average now sitting at 38.3, the Bulldogs' dramatic slump following their premiership year is one which has not only the Dogs, but footy fans in general, perplexed.
2. NIC NAT IS KILLING IT IN THE RUCK
To say the return of Nic Naitanui to the West Coast has been unbelievable would be a gross understatement.
Despite his low-possession game, the big man was unstoppable in the centre of the ground, racking up a whopping 33 hit-outs and giving the West Coast mids first use of the ball.
Bulldogs' ruckman Jordan Roughead had little luck in the middle, only notching up four hit-outs before being taken from the ground with concussion.
It's certainly cliche, but it all starts in the middle.
And with the final hit-out tally standing at 14-54, it's no wonder the Eagles had no problem crushing the Dogs.
3. LIAM RYAN IS AN EXCITEMENT MACHINE
Watch out, Jeremy Howe - you've got some competition.
West Coast's latest excitement machine, Liam Ryan, was one of the stand-outs for the Eagles, and had the crowd on their feet after he almost took one of the best screamers in the past decade.
With three goals, a tremendous pack mark later in the game and a harrowing forward presence, opposition sides will be in for a world of hurt should they underrate the impact of the second-gamer.
4. WEST COAST LEADERS STOOD UP IN SIMMO'S ABSENCE
The Eagles were down one key figure before the opening bounce, with Adam Simpson flying home to Perth to be with his daughter after she was hospitalised with a sudden fever.
But the veteran defender and skipper, Shannon Hurn, rose to the occasion and led the Eagles across the ground with 29 disposals - his performance and leadership integral to West Coast's flogging of the Dogs.
With assistant coach Jaymie Graham taking up the mantle of head coach, the Eagles are in more-than-capable hands should Simpson be forced to miss any matches with far more important issues.
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