WEST Coast could be left to rue a late fadeoutafter failing to finish the job in its 66-point win over Melbourne onSaturday night at Patersons Stadium.

The Eagles looked on track for a much-needed triple-figure win after piling on nine of the first 10 goals of the match.

Butthe Demons fought back in the final term, booting three goals to two tolimit the carnage and put a minor dent in the Eagles' top-eight hopes.

Althoughthe Eagles ran out 18.11 (119) to 8.5 (53) winners, the percentageboost they received might not be enough to land them a dream finalsberth.

ShouldWest Coast beat Gold Coast on the road next week, and Richmond andCollingwood lose as expected, then the Eagles will finish eighth - butonly if they can better Adelaide's percentage.

TheCrows' percentage is 110.2, but they have the chance to boost thatsignificantly when they take on struggling St Kilda next week atAdelaide Oval.

West Coast's percentageincreases from 111.1 to 114.7 after beating Melbourne, but it might needto beat Gold Coast by a comfortable margin to finish above Adelaide.

Eaglesforwards Josh Kennedy and Mark LeCras feasted on Melbourne's strugglingdefence with four goals apiece, while Jack Darling booted three in theopening quarter to kick-start the rout.

Bernie Vince, Nathan Jones and Daniel Cross battled their hearts out for the Demons, but they lacked support.

Melbournehave lost nine straight games, and if the AFL needed any extra proofthat it needed a priority draft pick, they just had to witness theDemons' first three quarters on Saturday.

It took until three minutes into the final quarter for Melbourne to take its first mark inside the forward 50m arc.

Bythen, the contest was over. The Demons have lost their past 15 matchesin Perth by an average of 48 points, with their last win at PatersonsStadium in 2004.

Even the pre-match withdrawalof star ruckman Nic Naitanui didn't faze the Eagles, who piled on thegoals with ease to celebrate the final home appearance of retiringveteran Dean Cox.

Melbourne defender Colin Garland suffered an early scare when he jarred his left knee during an awkward landing.

The26-year-old was able to return to the field, but he was subbed off inthe third quarter after struggling to run at full pace.

West Coast were also dealt an early blow when tagger Mark Hutchings injured his hamstring in the opening term.

"It was pretty evident out there the effort levels early on were really good for them and not so good for us," Melbourne coach Paul Roos said.

"But it was important for us to at least fight the game out and close the gap a tiny bit in the last quarter."

West Coast coach Adam Simpson conceded his team didn't finish off the game well.

"Ithought there was an opportunity to maybe extend things in the lastquarter, but Melbourne didn't go away. They kept hanging in there,"Simpson said.

"But we're excited that we get to go to the last game of the season and we're still a chance to make the eight."

 

West Coast: LeCras 4, Darling 4, Kennedy 3, Hill 2, Cripps, Lycett, Shuey, McGinnity, Gaff

Melbourne: Fitzpatrick 2, Vince, Bail, Howe, Pedersen, Dawes, Tyson 

West Coast: LeCras, Masten, Shuey, McGovern, Gaff

Melbourne: Vince, Jones, Howe, Bail, Cross

 

West Coast: Naitanui (Achilles soreness) replaced in selected side by Carter, Hutchings (right hamstring)

Melbourne: Garland (left knee)

 

West Coast: Dom Sheed replaced Mark Hutchings at quarter time

Melbourne: Christian Salem replaced Colin Garland in the third quarter

 

Reports: Nil

 

Umpires: Fleer, Farmer, Leppard

Official crowd: 35,083 at Patersons Stadium