THE WEST Coast Eagles have sent a message to the AFL competition that they should not be under-estimated this season by scoring an emphatic 50-point win over Port Adelaide at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.

The Power came west looking to celebrate the milestone games of Chad Cornes (200), Shaun Burgoyne (150), Toby Thurstans (100) and Brett Ebert (100). But West Coast – inspired by a stunning third quarter from Daniel Kerr - crashed the party to win 19.11 (125) to Port Adelaide’s 10.15 (75).

Daniel Motlop played a lone hand in the Power forward line finishing with four goals, while Kerr kicked four and Mark LeCras three for the Eagles.

Just as they did last week against Brisbane, West Coast jumped their opponents and had three unanswered goals on the board within the first 12 minutes, including a 65-metre monster from Quinten Lynch. 

The momentum slowly swung mid-quarter as the Power first shut down the Eagles’ runners and then started finding paths into the forward 50.

But poor kicking undermined their resurgence, as they rattled off five behinds and an out of bounds on the full in a five-minute period before Justin Westhoff finally kicked truly to open their account at the 21-minute mark.

West Coast was able to respond through Mark LeCras and held a 15-point advantage at the first break.

Power fans’ hopes were raised when Steven Salopek goaled within a minute of the resumption of play but the revival was brought to an abrupt halt by another 60-metre effort from Lynch, the first of another five unanswered goals from the home side.

Westhoff again stepped up for the Power as time-on loomed and Daniel Motlop produced another piece of magic to sidestep three West Coast opponents to goal to bring the margin back to 33 points at half time.   

Any hope the visitors had of getting back into the game was snuffed out by a brilliant third quarter from Kerr.

Well held in the first half, Kerr broke the shackles to rack up an amazing 16 possessions, capped off by two inspirational running goals.

To compound Port Adelaide’s woes, Westhoff limped off midway through the term, leaving Motlop as their only viable target up front.  Motlop kicked another freakish solo goal before later taking mark of the day and handing off to Robbie Gray, who kicked truly.

Down 44 points at the final break, coach Mark Williams had few options to play with.
Kerr continued to torment the Power with his fourth running goal and although Motlop conjured one final piece of magic for his fourth, the final siren couldn’t come quickly enough for a tiring Power outfit.

Brendon Lade battled manfully all day for Port, Motlop was the most dangerous forward on the day, Alipate Carlile worked hard in defence, and Salopek and Kane Cornes found plenty of the ball but had little impact.

Kerr led the way for the West Coast, and was ably supported by Adam Selwood, Dean Cox and Shannon Hurn in a side that had no passengers.

Port Adelaide now faces Melbourne in Adelaide next Sunday, and will be buoyed by the return of Dean Brogan from suspension.

West Coast        4.3    10.6  16.8    19.11 (125)
Port Adelaide     1.6    4.9     8.12    10.15 (75)

GOALS
West Coast: Kerr 4, LeCras 3, Cox, Lynch 2, Ebert, Embley, Hansen, Hurn, Masten, Priddis, Selwood, Stenglein
Port Adelaide: Motlop 4, Westhoff 2, P.Burgoyne, Cassisi, Gray, Salopek

BEST
West Coast: Selwood, Kerr, Rosa, Glass, Hurn, Cox, Fletcher, Priddis
Port Adelaide: Motlop, Lade, Carlile

INJURIES
West Coast: David Wirrpanda replaced in selected side by Ryan Davis
Port Adelaide: Westhoff (foot)

REPORTS
Port Adelaide: Daniel Motlop reported by goal umpire M Spear for striking Adam Hunter
West Coast: Nil

Umpires: Margetts, Schmitt, Kamolins

Official crowd: 37,826 at Subiaco Oval

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.