Finals may still be a few arms lengths away, but West Coast’s 30-point win against Essendon has all but assured they’re no longer wooden spoon contenders.

The Eagles’ wet and wild 12.13 (85) to 8.7 (55) victory at Optus Stadium on Sunday evening was their fourth before the bye — ensuring they will likely exceed pre-season expectations for 2026.

It’s the best sign yet the talent-laden list is starting to find the maturity to match, a combination which will bode well for the rebuild.

After years of being bullied, West Coast decided to dish out some punishment of their own to give coach Andrew McQualter his biggest win at the helm.

And there was little surprise that two leading the way were Harley Reid and Milan Murdock.

Reid (24 disposals and nine score involvements) crashed into Essendon players at every chance but did it with controlled aggression which ensured it only impacted positively for the Eagles.

And Murdock (three goals, eight score involvements and 19 disposals) continued his role as a defensive forward, this time keeping close tabs on Essendon prime mover Archie Roberts (30 touches).

However, the most influential player on the ground was Eagles backman Reuben Ginbey, who blanketed mercurial Essendon forward Nate Caddy.

Even when he was out of position, Ginbey found a way to just get a hand to the ball or put body in the way of Caddy to ruin his day, with the Bomber having to wait until late in the game to get a pair of junk-time goals.

McQualter would’ve been pleased by the fact there was contributors across the ground.

Veteran midfielder Tim Kelly had 28 touches, while Tom McCarthy racked up 26 disposals and kicked his maiden AFL goal.

Essendon’s biggest win on the night was the performance of draftee Sullivan Robey, who had nine clearances and 19 touches to be his side’s best on an underwhelming night.

And somehow the Bombers dominated at the clearances, which they won 44 to 23. But as soon as the ball cleared from the contest it was the Eagles who flew.

There was plenty of intrigue as to what changes interim coach Dean Solomon would make only days after landing the job.

And the former Bomber wasn’t afraid to throw the magnets around, with defender Ben McKay playing forward and back-up ruckman as they tried to get their big-money man into the game.

Unfortunately for McKay, the visitors struggled to get the footy up that end of the oval against the breeze in the first quarter as the Eagles held Essendon to a solitary behind.

Compounding their woes, young forward Archer May was ruled out early in the game with a shoulder injury after some friendly fire from Caddy in a marking contest.

While West Coast were doing all the attacking, they were wasteful, and it meant their lead was only 16 points at the first break despite their dominance.

Essendon finally broke through in almost comical fashion, with a series of mistakes leading to Nik Cox kicking one from the goalline after a series of errors.

Archer Day-Wicks (two goals) added another and there were questions whether the Eagles had wasted their chance with the strong breeze in the first term.

The strong wind made the city end of the ground the scoring end for much of the night and as such it took until the 20th minute of the second term for a goal to be kicked against it.

It was the first of eight unanswered goals either side of half-time which effectively put the result beyond doubt.

Harvey Johnston kick started it for the Eagles, before Jobe Shanahan doubled down with a mark and set shot conversion.

However, it was Reid’s effort just before the main break where he simply made himself impossible to tackle despite being surrounded by Bombers, before snapping a big goal which got the crowd on their feet.

Essendon didn’t help themselves when they gave away a free kick to Murdock before the ball was even thrown up to start the third term, with the pre-season signing slotting his second.

By midway thought the quarter the Eagles led by 53 points and there were no signs from the Bombers that they were at all capable of a miraculous comeback.

McKay finally stopped the bleeding with his first goal at the Bombers, but the damage had well and truly been done.

Essendon managed to hit back with three unanswered goals, but this Eagles outfit has matured enough that they were not going to get spooked.

Leading spearhead Jake Waterman calmed any nerves that may have been present with his third goal, before Murdock capped of an excellent night with his third as well which is a career-high from his nine games.

Essendon put some respectability back on the scoreboard late as they used the ever-increasing wind to great effect but the Eagles celebrated WA Day early with a victory.

SCOREBOARD

WEST COAST 2.5, 5.6, 10.10, 12.13 (85)

ESSENDON 0.1, 2.4, 4.5, 8.7 (55)

Goals – WEST COAST: M Murdock 3 J Waterman 3 W Duursma H Johnston T McCarthy H Reid J Shanahan B Williams. ESSENDON: A Day-Wicks 2 N Caddy 2 N Cox T Edwards B McKay Z Merrett.

Best – WEST COAST: R Ginbey H Reid T Kelly M Murdock T McCarthy W Duursma. ESSENDON: Z Merrett S Robey X Duursma W Setterfield N Bryan A Day-Wicks.

Injuries – ESSENDON: A May (shoulder).

Umpires: J Pearson D Johanson J Howard J Broadbent. Crowd: 37,623 at Optus Stadium.