WEST COASTÂ
5.6Â Â Â Â 9.8Â Â Â Â 14.9 Â Â Â Â 20.12 Â Â Â (132)
GOLD COASTÂ
2.4 Â Â Â Â 2.7 Â Â Â Â 5.13Â Â Â Â 7.13 Â Â Â (55)
GOALSÂ
West Coast: Kennedy 5, Darling 3, LeCras 3, Cripps 2, Lycett 2, Hill, Shuey, Hutchings, Naitanui, Hurn. Gold Coast: Martin 2, Lynch 2, Hall, Davis, May.
BEST
West Coast: Lycett, Kennedy, Sheppard, Shuey, Priddis, Cripps. Gold Coast:  Ablett, Prestia, Malceski, Hall, Martin, Nicholls.
UMPIRES
Farmer, Bannister, Deboy.
CROWDÂ
34,945 at Domain Stadium.
As expected, West Coast beat an undermanned Gold Coast Suns at Domain Stadium on Sunday, by a handy 77 points, but the Eagles wasted an opportunity to pinch a spot in the top four for the first time since round one.
They were just a goal away from leap-frogging Greater Western Sydney into fourth spot late in the third term, before the Suns booted three goals going into the final break.
The first of those three goals, a tough snap from Aaron Hall, came 24 minutes into the third term and was the Suns first major since Ryan Davis kicked truly after the quarter-time siren. In that same time, West Coast kicked 9.3.
Another two goals to Jack Martin in the final term cost last year's runner-up any chance of pushing higher than fifth on the ladder, when earlier they looked capable of kicking a score that would have had them topple the third-placed Geelong as well.
They'll need to beat the Western Bulldogs, and claim a rare win in Melbourne next week, if they want to sneak into the upper rungs on the ladder.
A run of nine unanswered goals for the Eagles from the start of the second term to late in the third set up the convincing 20.12 to 7.13 victory.
It also gave them three consecutive wins for the first time this season – including last week's maiden away win, against Port Adelaide.
The workload was shared, with midfielders Luke Shuey, Matt Priddis and Jack Redden enjoying solid work from their ruckmen Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett.
It was a tough return for Suns defender Steven May, playing his first game since being rubbed out for striking Brisbane's Stefan Martin in round four. It was almost a sixth week of punishment, being made to man-up on a red-hot Josh Kennedy on a day when the Eagles had 60 entries into their attacking 50m area. Kennedy booted five goals, without adding any in the final term.
That haul took his tally in Eagles colours to 394 and saw him pass Peter Matera (389) and move in to second place on the club's all-time goal kicking list.
Kennedy started the weekend with 32 goals from nine games in 2016; eight goals behind Sydney Swans champion Lance Franklin in the race for the Coleman Medal and level with the Gold Coast's Tom Lynch. After Franklin's three goals in Friday night's win over North Melbourne, that margin has been cut back to just six.
Sunday was the third consecutive week Kennedy has kicked five goals or more this season and the fifth with a return of three or more.
The day was not as prolific for Lynch. The undermanned Suns forward line was in as much disarray as their defence, especially early.
Luke Russell set the tone for their poor goal kicking in the opening term, when he took an uncontested mark 10m from goal, played on and dribbled the ball through for a behind. Eagles debutant Tom Cole was putting only minimal pressure on him. Russell then hit the goal post from 45m just two minutes later.
Of the eight behinds the Suns kicked from the start of the second term to the 24-minute mark of the third, four of them were from set shots; not pressured shots while being hotly pursued.
Lynch's two goals came late in the third term. They both showed off the big man's class, but sadly for the Suns, they came too late and narrowed the margin to 50 points at the final change.
There is no coincidence though that the Suns started to look a bit better organised in attack after half-time when Jack Martin moved there from defence.
When the Suns start to get some of their players back, hopefully he can play there a bit more. But they reported that they didn't have many more than 22 players to select from this week and then they lost Kade Kolodjashnij to illness late in the week and he didn't even travel.