It was the massacre at Marvel Stadium that everyone predicted.

A star-studded Western Bulldogs desperate for a victory to keep their finals hopes alive against an injury-ravaged West Coast nearing the end of a season that is likely to finish with a club-low one win.

The Eagles were going to need mercy if they were to be any chance of getting close. The Bulldogs showed none as they tore the wooden spooners to shreds, claiming a 94-point victory.

The thumping 19.12 (126) to 4.8 (32) victory on Sunday also sent a message to the Eagles’ cross-town rivals Fremantle ahead of their do-or-die clash in seven days.

And scarily, at times it felt as if the Bulldogs didn’t get out of third gear but they kept the Eagles to their lowest score of the season.

It was a family affair for the home side, who had four sons of champion players turn out and have an immense impact.

Debutant Jordan Croft combined with Sam Darcy, Aaron Naughton and Sam Davidson to be part of a monster forward line that combined for 11 goals in a devastating performance against an undersized and undermanned Eagles defence.

Fresh off re-signing, enigmatic midfielder Tom Liberatore proved dominant at the clearances with nine to go with 22 disposals and eight tackles

And crafty forward Rhylee West booted three goals as well as having a hand in several others.

And then there were the other usual suspects. Captain Marcus Bontempelli (31 disposals, two goals and 10 clearances) burnt off West Coast players like he was a Year 12 playing against the lower grade kids at school.

Bailey Dale rebounded off half-back with ferocity and frequency, racking up 34 disposals in another typical performance of the likely soon to be two-time All-Australian.

For the Eagles, there was just too much of a class difference across the board for them to be competitive.

Stand-in skipper Liam Baker (24 disposals) threw his body with reckless intent at half-back, while ruckman Matt Flynn (40 hit-outs and 11 disposals) got the better of Tim English (20 disposals and 32 hit-outs) in the air but was beaten around the ground by his counterpart.

Ryan Maric racked up 26 touches out of defence but turned it over frequently either through poor decision making or poor execution.

Even when the Eagles did manage to get some territory dominance, their injury depleted forward line was unable to find a way to hit the scoreboard.

First-year forward Jobe Shanahan was the No.1 target, but Bulldogs defender James O’Donnell worked him under the ball well to ensure he couldn’t use his strong marking ability to have a major impact.

The Eagles looked as if they’d come to play once again, having taken it up to minor premiers Adelaide seven days ago.

After giving up the first three inside 50s, the sleeping Bulldogs awoke in a big way and began to slice up the Eagles through slick ball movement.

It started with a pair of goals from Darcy, who loomed ominous over the match before the first bounce before Davidson and Naughton piled on the pain in a seven-minute burst.

While they dominated the contest, the Bulldogs were wasteful in front of goal to let the Eagles off the hook, leading by only 28 points at the first break.

West Coast finally broke through for their first goal of the game in the fourth minute of the second term when Flynn marked strongly and converted the set shot.

The Bulldogs responded emphatically with three goals in four minutes as the tall targets forward of centre continued to cause havoc.

West Coast managed to get some territory dominance for nearly 10 minutes but kicked only the one goal and there was a feeling that once the Bulldogs regained ascendency it was going to get ugly.

This turned out to be correct as the Bulldogs put the foot on the throat with four more goals before the main break to ensure there would be no upset as there was two years earlier.

West Coast tried to apply pressure in the third term, but the Dogs weren’t panicked and almost played with their food rather than feasting on the Eagles with relentless scoreboard pressure.

The Eagles stemmed the flow in the final term but the Bulldogs never really pushed too hard to blow them out of the water, seemingly preserving their relentless intent for a date with the Dockers next week.

WESTERN BULLDOGS 4.5 11.7 15.7 19.12 (126)

WEST COAST 0.1 2.5 3.8 4.8 (32)

Goals – WESTERN BULLDOGS: S Davidson 3 S Darcy 3 A Naughton 3 R West 3 M Bontempelli 2 J Croft 2 E Richards 2 J Freijah. WEST COAST: J Cripps M Flynn N Long M Owies.

Best – WESTERN BULLDOGS: M Bontempelli B Dale E Richards T Liberatore T English S Davidson. WEST COAST: L Baker T McCarthy M Flynn R Maric C Chesser.

Injuries – WESTERN BULLDOGS: L McNeil (leg).

Umpires: N Brown J Howard C Dore A Heffernan. Crowd: 21,207 at Marvel Stadium.