Essendon recruit Jake Stringer unleashed some early carnage to help lift the Bombers to a shock 28-point win over West Coast.

The Bombers booted the first eight goals of the Thursday night Optus Stadium match on the way to a 12.8 (80) to 6.16 (52) victory in front of 51,409 fans.

Stringer booted three goals in the opening term, and although he failed to add to that tally after quarter-time, West Coast's wobbles in front of goal ensured Essendon secured the win despite ending the match with two fewer scoring shots.

Essendon (6-7) has now won four of its past five matches, while West Coast (10-3) has lost two straight.

The Eagles entered the match without their best two forwards after Josh Kennedy (leg) joined Jack Darling (ankle) on the sidelines.

But it was in the midfield where the Eagles copped a first-half caning, especially in the opening term when Essendon booted six goals to nil.

The Eagles entered the first break with a solitary behind to their name - their lowest ever quarter-time score in Perth.

And when Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti snapped a clever goal from the pocket early in the second term, the scoreboard read 50-1.

While the inaccurate Eagles clawed back into the contest, the damage was done.

"Every win is always enjoyable, obviously," Bombers coach John Worsfold said post-match.

"That was a tough game, but overall we're obviously pleased we took the opportunities early when we had them and just kept that pressure on all night.

"I thought our ball movement going forward was really dangerous early (with) good decision-making.

"It gave us a great buffer to start with."

Nic Naitanui scored West Coast's first goal at the 11-minute mark of the second quarter, but the Eagles fluffed a series of other opportunities during the remainder of the half.

Nevertheless, the Eagles had at least stopped the bleeding, with the home side entering the long break with some momentum.

The lead was still a daunting 40 points at that stage and West Coast sprayed even more shots in the third quarter.

The Eagles’ plight was best summed up by ruckman Scott Lycett, who should have soccered through a goal from about 40cm out but missed the ball completely.

Trailing by 37 points, West Coast rolled the dice in the final term by moving Jeremy McGovern forward.

But the game was effectively put to bed early in the final quarter when Matt Guelfi's long-range bomb took a lucky bounce and rolled through for a goal.

West Coast won the inside 50s 59-45 but lost the clearances (39-33) and contested possessions (143-126).

"The start was really poor by us. Really good by Essendon. We couldn't stop their rebounding defenders – nothing to do with personnel," Eagles coach Adam Simpson said.

"We just couldn’t win the contest in midfield the way we wanted to and they broke tackles and broke lines, which gave them goalside opportunities.

"They were too tough for us in the first quarter, which is really disappointing for us.

"The rest of the game we played better and then the goalkicking and the missed opportunities kicked in.

"But the damage was done in the first quarter so we'll reflect heavily on that."

MEDICAL ROOM
West Coast: The Eagles appeared to get through unscathed, in about the only thing that went right for them on a disastrous evening.

Essendon: Small forward Josh Green limped from the ground early in the second term but returned shortly after, otherwise the Bombers seemingly had a clean bill of health.

NEXT UP

The Eagles travel to face the Crows at Adelaide Oval, where they have won on six of their seven visits, while Essendon returns to Etihad Stadium and hosts co-tenant North Melbourne in another crunch encounter.

WEST COAST 0.1 1.6 2.12 6.16 (52)             

ESSENDON 6.2 8.4 9.7 12.8 (80)

GOALS

West Coast: Cripps 2, Naitanui, Rioli, LeCras, Shuey

Essendon: Stringer 3, Smith 3, Bellchambers, Brown, McDonald-Tipungwuti, Baguley, Guelfi, Langford

BEST 

West Coast: Hurn, Gaff, Yeo, Redden, Naitanui

Essendon: Saad, Smith, Heppell, Hooker, Merrett, Hurley, Goddard

INJURIES 

West Coast: Nil

Essendon: Nil

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Margetts, Dalgleish, Williamson, Fleer

Official crowd: 51,409 at Optus Stadium