A young Port Adelaide side has defied the intense Western Australian heat to give the Eagles a football lesson in a 78-point thrashing at Subiaco on Saturday night.
Despite the mercury hovering around 37 degrees at the first bounce, the Power produced some intense pressure and controlled the first two quarters before unleashing an eight goal to one third term to lead by 65 points at the final break on the way to a 4.19.8 (158) to 2.8.14 (80) result.
Port Adelaide was missing a host of senior players, including Warren Tredrea, Dean Brogan and Travis Boak, but the Power hardly missed them, coach Mark Williams certain to be delighted with some impressive performances from his youngsters.
Rookie Cameron Hitchcock scored four goals including one nine-pointer, and Mitch Banner added three. Jay Schulz, Cameron Cloke, Brett Ebert, Justin Westhoff and Scott Harding all scored two majors, the latter two enjoying a super goal each in that tally.
The forwards were ably supported by a superior midfield led by skipper Dom Cassisi, which managed to win the clearances handsomely 41-27, despite Nic Naitanui and Dean Cox dominating the ruck.
The Eagles were admittedly missing three of their blue chip midfielders in Daniel Kerr, Andrew Embley and Matt Priddis, along with the influential Shannon Hurn, but coach John Worsfold will have been disappointed by the skill level showed by most of his second stringers.
Worsfold had admittedly instructed his players to play on at all costs and damn the consequences, but the coach would still have been unimpressed with the amount of turnovers conceded under some intense Port pressure, particularly at half back.
Luke Shuey still managed to hold his head high with an influential performance, while Chris Masten was the only other Eagle to have any real influence on the contest.
Having lost twice at Subiaco last season, Port playmaker Steve Salopek showed he'd learnt a thing or two from this just 90 seconds in as he kicked long to Brett Ebert, who converted. Salopek went on to enjoy nine inside 50s for four goal assists.
Playing on at every chance, a young Eagles' line-up wracked up possession in the first quarter with 116 disposals to 64, the strategy initially paying dividends as the hosts moved out to a seven-point lead.
But with fringe defenders Ashley Smith and Matt Spangher turning the ball over on several occasions under pressure at half-back, Port Adelaide kicked the last three majors of the quarter, including a harsh 50-metre penalty super goal against Brad Ebert, to take a 10-point lead into the first break.
More turnovers from Spangher and Smith at the start of the second term helped Port out to a 22-point lead four minutes in, but that just forced the Eagles to up the pressure as they reverted to a more regular one-on-one game plan, a Shuey super goal helping West Coast get back to within nine points.
But the second half of the quarter belonged to Cameron Cloke, the former Blues big man marking strongly on the lead to score his first for the term 14 minutes in, before setting up Mitchell Banner for another major two minutes later.
Cloke even had the audacity to out-muscle Cox at a throw-in by the boundary post, before dribbling through his second for the term, the Power back out to 25 points ahead before Naitanui showed his class, snapping truly on the half-time siren to give his side a sniff.
But the Power responded within 60 seconds of the break through some route one football, Pearce finding Salopek, whose penetrating kick forward allowed Ebert to slot his second.
And it was all one-way traffic after that as Port kicked eight goals to one for the term to wrap things up by the final change, setting up a NAB Cup semi-final clash with the Bulldogs next Friday night.
WEST COAST: 0.4.2, 1.5.9, 1.6.10, 2.8.14 (80)
PORT ADELAIDE: 1.4.3, 1.9.4, 2.16.6, 4.19.8 (158)
SUPER GOALS: West Coast: Shuey, Ebert
Port Adelaide: Harding, Westhoff, Pearce, Hitchcock
GOALS: West Coast: LeCras 2, Nicoski, McKinley, Lynch, Naitanui, Brown, Kennedy
Port Adelaide: Hitchcock 3, Banner 3, Schulz 2, Cloke 2, Ebert 2, Harding, Thompson, P Stewart, D Stewart, Westhoff, Davenport
BEST: West Coast: Shuey, Masten, McGinnity,
Port Adelaide: Hitchcock, Cassisi, Salopek, Pearce, Westhoff, Banner, Harding
INJURIES: West Coast: Nil
Port Adelaide: Nil
REPORTS: Nil
CHANGES: Nil
UMPIRES: Ryan, Chamberlain, Jennings, Bowen
CROWD: 16,231 at Subiaco Oval