An extraordinary 12-goal haul from West Coast forward Mark LeCras has piled the misery on Essendon and engineered a 32-point victory for the Eagles - their first since round 8 - at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
LeCras bettered Jack Riewoldt's 10-goal haul (also against West Coast in round 12) in front of Essendon's worst-ever crowd at the ground (26,911) with an outstanding individual performance as he booted 12 from 22 disposals and 12 marks.
LeCras was a constant menace up forward, disposing of five opponents - Heath Hocking, Dustin Fletcher, Courtenay Dempsey, Nathan Lovett-Murray and Mark McVeigh - and had 10 goals by the 18-minute mark of the third quarter.
By the six-minute-mark of the last term, LeCras had equaled the Etihad Stadium record of 11 goals - jointly held by St Kilda's Steven Milne (2005) and former Bombers spearhead Matthew Lloyd (2003) - with a crafty snap under pressure and he went one better with five minutes to go.
For Essendon, it was an embarrassing end to a trying week, with coach Matthew Knights' position all the more tenuous after the 32-point loss, the Dons' sixth on the trot.
The Bombers were inept, save for a brief spell in the first quarter which saw them lead by 15 points.
For the Eagles it was all positive as they snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Josh Kennedy was outstanding, picking up 20 disposals and reeling in 12 marks, roaming high up the ground to provide another option and ample support for the show-stopper LeCras.
Matt Priddis was tireless for the Eagles. He won 33 disposals and nine clearances and had plenty of support from Andrew Embley (25 touches), Adam Selwood (25) and Brad Ebert (23).
One of very few positives for the Bombers was the performance of small forward Travis Colyer, who ended up with 26 disposals and kicked a couple of handy goals.
The Eagles had won the past three encounters between the two sides going into the clash - albeit all at Subiaco - while the Bombers had taken the honours in the previous two clashes with the Eagles at Etihad Stadium.
Roundly criticised during the week by former coach Kevin Sheedy, the Bombers had it all to play for with murmurings of discontent between the playing group and Knights mounting by the day.
With conjecture over his future and with leading figures at the club forced to declare unity amongst the camp during the week, the scene was set perfectly for a gutsy Bombers' response.
Early on the reaction looked emphatic.
The Dons looked hungry; the zip was back as they skipped out to an early 26-9 lead in the first term.
West Coast, bereft of confidence and with an unwanted seven-game losing streak of its own, looked like it was on the canvas at that stage, until LeCras entered the fray.
The Eagles' most potent forward put on a half of footy one will be hard pressed to see bettered this season.
LeCras booted seven for the half, a personal best, including four goals in the opening term to lift the Eagles to a three-point lead at quarter time.
He disposed of his first opponent, Hocking, with a fifth early in the second quarter and then provided a headache for Dempsey and eventually Fletcher.
The Eagles looked hungrier, were winning the contested footy (77-59 in the first half) and despite turning it over at times, looked to have control of the match with an obvious avenue to goal.
LeCras's sixth came 20 minutes into the second term - a snap from the boundary moments after he'd fumbled a gilt-edged chance in the goalsquare - and came just as the Bombers were working their way back into the contest.
He marked and slotted his seventh late in the half to extend the Eagles' lead to 14 points and wasn't done there.
His eighth came just two minutes into the third - with Dempsey trusted again with the task - as he marked and goaled with relative ease and with surprisingly little pressure from his opponent.
If the Bombers still had a sniff it was snuffed out 15 minutes into the term when LeCras - with Hocking back on him - threaded the eye of the needle with a sublime 40m set shot on the boundary, to extend the Eagles' lead to 32 points.
The tenth came at the 18-minute mark, another beauty of a set shot and at that stage you could sense the belief amongst the young Eagles side, they couldn't lose, not with LeCras's bag of 10, and counting.
Kennedy was roaming the forward half with great effectiveness to support his smaller counterpart and not even a cut to the head could stop LeCras lining up for his 11th - which he missed.
Still, the Eagles' six-goals-to-one third quarter proved the decisive period and they refused to relinquish their grip on the match after taking a 36-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Knights gave his charges an almighty spray after waving away his assistants at the last change, but the howls around Etihad became more and more pronounced.
LeCras added to that six minutes into the last while deep in the left forward pocket, snapping his 11th after Priddis had dished off to him on the run before surpassing the goals record at the ground with a 12th with five minutes to go.
The Bombers did kick four goals in the last quarter to limit the damage, but all eyes were on LeCras as he looked to add to his bag of 12.
The Eagles, try as they might, couldn't get it to their man again, nonetheless it was a memorable night for LeCras and the Eagles just as it was an equally dark one for the Bombers.
ESSENDON: 4.2, 8.7, 10.11, 14.15 (100)
WEST COAST: 4.5, 10.9, 16.11, 20.12 (132)
GOALS: Essendon: Stanton 3, Colyer 2, Lonergan 2, Davey, Gumbleton, Howlett, Monfries, Neagle, Ryder, Zaharakis
West Coast: Le Cras 12, Hams 3, Embley, Kennedy, Naitanui, Priddis, Strijk,
BEST: Essendon: Colyer, Winderlich, Lovett-Murray, Lonergan
West Coast: LeCras, Kennedy, Priddis, Ebert, Embley, Selwood, Hams
INJURIES: Essendon: Nil
West Coast: Nil
REPORTS: Nil
CHANGES: Nil
UMPIRES: McLaren, Schmitt, Hay
CROWD: 26,991