An undermanned West Coast has produced one of the upsets of the season, overcoming a 26-point deficit on its way to beating St Kilda by 17 points at Subiaco on Saturday afternoon.
After leading by just two points at three-quarter time, the Eagles piled on six goals to three in the final term to claim their third win this season in a 15.13 (103) to 12.14 (86) triumph.
The Saints appeared to have the match under control when Stephen Milne snapped truly at the eight-minute mark of the second quarter, taking the lead to beyond four goals. But West Coast stuck at the task, pressuring the Saints into mistakes and hurting its opponent on the turnover while St Kilda appeared hesitant moving forward despite Nick Riewoldt's five goals.
Mark LeCras was dangerous up forward for West Coast kicking four goals while Brent Staker played one of his best matches for the Eagles, taking the ball inside 50 eight times during the first half and kicking three goals, including a team-lifting one from 50 after taking four bounces during the second term.
And, while Staker faded after spending most of the third quarter getting his hamstrings worked on, he still returned to boot his third goal during the last quarter as the Eagles overran their highly-rated opponents.
The result sees St Kilda fail to take advantage of Collingwood's loss earlier in the day, leaving the club at seventh on the ladder and in danger of dropping out of the eight if Adelaide and North Melbourne win later in the round.
The Saints had West Coast on the ropes during the first quarter as Riewoldt looked set to outclass the Eagles' inexperienced defence that was without All Australian skipper Darren Glass.
But, after scoring six straight last weekend against the Hawks, Riewoldt could only manage 1.3 in the first term, letting the Eagles off the hook and allowing the hosts to grab some of the momentum back through two late goals to Staker and Brad Ebert after the quarter-time siren.
More worrying for the Saints was an 11th minute thigh injury to defender Max Hudghton, that would prove particularly costly as the Eagles eventually took advantage of a disorganised St Kilda defence.
Hudghton's absence didn't seem to hurt the Saints during the early stages of the second term, however, as a goal to Riewoldt and a fantastic snap from Milne extended the lead out to 26 points. But, an emphatic performance by Staker and some good work in close by Ebert saw the Eagles storm back into contention with a further four goals before half-time to cut the margin to just one point.
The third term was more of an arm wrestle but the Saints continued to look more hesitant attacking the ball and the Eagles seemed to have more run through the middle, despite both sides scoring three goals for the term.
When Riewoldt levelled the scores at 71 apiece at the eighth minute mark of the final term, it looked like game on but a tremendous long bomb from Quinten Lynch, booted 65 metres from within the centre square, led to a run of Eagles goals that put the game beyond the Saints.
WEST COAST: 2.3, 6.5, 9.11, 15.13 (103)
ST KILDA: 4.5, 6.6, 9.9, 12.14 (86)
GOALS: West Coast: LeCras 4, Ebert 3, Staker 3, McKinley, Seaby, Lynch, S.