WEST Coast equalled its worst start in an AFL season and left its finals hopes in tatters yesterday after paying the price for unsightly and inexcusable football in the second term against a desperate Port Adelaide at Subiaco Oval.

Port's 24-point win gave it its first victory of the year and handed the Eagles their fourth defeat in a row and a 1-4 record to equal the stuttering starts of 1998 and 1996.

The Eagles game — and possibly the season — came unglued in the second term, when Port kicked eight goals to West Coast's two. Port was relentless, committed, talented and cohesive in its 19.14 to 16.8 victory. Apart from two rallies, West Coast played without confidence, lacked speed, made poor decisions and struggled around the stoppages.

Port's surge was fired by the tenacity of David Rodan and the class of Kane Cornes, Shaun Burgoyne and Travis Boak. The Eagles were corralled into places they didn't want to go as Port, for the most part, played the game on its terms.

The Eagles' periods of dominance came when victory was beyond their grasp, for a period in the third term and for a large part of the fourth term when they booted seven goals. But that will count little for the Eagles coaching staff because when the game was on the line, West Coast players were second to the ball and offered only meagre resistance.

The Eagles' woes were reflected in a battle between Kane Cornes and Daniel Kerr and a passage of play in the second term when Michael Braun was ideally placed to provided a block for Dean Cox. The big man misread his mate's intentions and handballed straight at his unprepared wingman. Port cleared the ball.

Kerr was handcuffed by Cornes and, in a similar vein to last week when Sydney's Kieren Jack shut down West Coast's best playmaker, the Eagles didn't have the personnel to provide a viable alternative.

West Coast's efforts in the first term provided some hope to the supporters, who watched the Eagles annihilation the week before. Familiar names put West Coast, looking to celebrate the 150th games of Darren Glass and Dean Cox, on the front foot.

Players such as Tyson Stenglein, Chad Fletcher, Adam Selwood, and Andrew Embley were prominent. Just like the old days. But, alas, it was just like the current days in the second term when the Eagles coughed up the ball through overuse, had no answer to the in-close work of Port and generally lacked the run and skill to go with the opposition.

Ben McKinley kicked two early goals and Dean Cox nailed one but down the other end, Port fiddled around goal and missed easy chances.

Had Port not sprayed shots at goal in the first quarter, the damage would have been much greater. Players such as Steven Salopek, Shaun Burgoyne and Daniel Motlop all missed chances they should have swallowed.

The second term highlighted Port's dominance in the centre square, with the forwards enjoying the benefits of the hard labours of their midfielders. Port's swift movement of the ball put enormous pressure on West Coast's defence, which struggled against the variety offered by Power's personnel in attack. Daniel Motlop led Port's goal-scoring spree, kicking two of his four goals in the term. He may look nonchalant at times and does his best work heading towards his own goal, but the mercurial forward was lethal yesterday.

Warren Tredrea and Shaun Burgoyne both kicked two goals for the term while Adam Thomson joined in with one. The game was shot at half-time, with Port leading by 37 points as West Coast panicked when the heat was on.

West Coast's flame was all but extinguished at the big break before a third-term flicker when Embley and David Wirrpanda inspired a revival.

After Port cleared away to a 49-point lead, goals to Matthew Spangher, Chad Jones and Quinten Lynch trimmed the margin to 31 points as the supporters dared to dream. They needn't have bothered.

Port settled with goals to Brett Ebert and Dominic Cassisi to provide a 42-point buffer at three-quarter-time. West Coast came again in the final term, one more flicker, but as Elton John would say, it was only a candle in the wind.

McKinley gave the supporters a memory to take home while the return to form of players such as Embley and the midfield run of Chris Masten in the final term will also buoy the faithful.

PORT ADELAIDE 2.7 10.11 15.11 19.14 (128)
WEST COAST 3.3 5.4 9.5 16.8 (104)

GOALS Port Adelaide: Motlop 4, Ebert 4, S Burgoyne 3, Thomson 2, Tredrea 2, Lade, Westhoff, Cassisi, Rodan. West Coast: McKinley 5, Wirrpanda 2, A Selwood 2, Lynch 2, Cox, Armstrong, Spangher, Jones, Kerr.

BEST Port Adelaide: K Cornes, S Burgoyne, Rodan, Motlop, Cassisi. West Coast: McKinley, A Selwood, Embley, Wirrpanda.

UMPIRES Ryan, Wenn, K Nicholls

CROWD 38,302 at Subiaco Oval.

THE UPSHOT You can write another team off from finals action. The Eagles, while still in touch with the eight at 1-4, face an uphill battle to be playing in September. Port Adelaide is 1-4, too, but although it was hard to believe, after a poor start to this season, that it played in the grand final last year, it has at last found winning form in 2008.

TALKING POINT Can Port Adelaide hold a big lead? The previous weekend it gave up a 47-point lead to lose to the Brisbane Lions by 20 points. Yesterday, it led by 67 points during the final term and let the Eagles reduce that deficit to 24 points at the final siren.

HOT AND COLD David Rodan loved the open space at Subiaco. He continually ran the footy and hurt West Coast with his disposal. The former Tiger had too much pace, had 21 touches and kicked a goal. On the other hand, Daniel Kerr couldn't get near the footy for the Eagles. Kane Cornes tagged him out of the game and won the ball himself. Kerr's 13 disposals were rushed and mostly ineffective while Cornes had 27 touches and hurt the Eagles.