Essendon's best football of the year and what opposing coach Adam Simpson acknowledged was a "terrible" response from West Coast have lifted the Bombers to an impressive 61-point win at Etihad Stadium.
With spearhead Joe Daniher and key defender Michael Hurley again in supreme form, the Bombers had Sunday's AFL match well in their keeping at halftime, before they eased off after the long break to win 19.11 (125) to 8.16 (64).
Daniher's five-goal haul will steal many of the headlines, but coach John Worsfold was just as happy with the suffocating forward pressure applied by the Bombers as they kicked eight straight majors either side of the quarter-time break.
"We're nowhere near having a team that understands everything about each other but it's slowly coming," said Worsfold.
"Not many teams would cope with the pressure that was up there. It was outstanding.
"They really didn't get any chance to work the ball out of our forward-50.
"From that we created scoring opportunities and we made the most - especially early - of those shots at goal."
The Bombers improved to 5-4 ahead of another huge challenge against Richmond next weekend in the annual Dreamtime clash at the MCG.
West Coast return home to square off against premiership favourites GWS at Domain Stadium, where Simpson will be demanding an immediate response following his team's third - and heaviest - loss of the year.
"It was terrible," he said.
"You give a fair bit of credit to Essendon and their mindset and their attitude, but we were well off in all areas.
"It starts with your leaders and how you respond when your backs are against the wall in that second quarter.
"Converting opportunities, (we were) beaten on the inside and beaten on the outside.
"It probably just shows you where we're at at the moment."
Spearhead Josh Kennedy toiled hard and was rewarded with four of the Eagles' meagre total of eight goals.
But to add to West Coast's many woes, a couple of other members of their much-vaunted attack were extremely wasteful in front of goal.
Jack Darling finished the day with 2.5 and Mark Le Cras - whose career-high tally of 12 majors came against the same opposition at the same venue seven years ago - booted 0.3.
Sam Mitchell was booed all day by the crowd, due to the occasion in a match two years at the height of the Essendon supplements scandal when he mimicked an injection.
But the former Hawks captain was still one of the Eagles' better players on a dirty day for the club.
Eleni Glouftsis made history on Sunday, becoming the first female field umpire to officiate in a VFL/AFL match.
Share
