A 71-point belting by Carlton has plunged West Coast to the worst start to a season in the club’s history.

The 17.19 (121) to 6.14 (50) obliteration at the hands of a wasteful Blues at Adelaide Oval on Saturday was their fifth-consecutive defeat of 2025 and has the Eagles rooted to the bottom of the ladder.

They are trying to avoid a third wooden spoon in as many seasons.

The same problems haunted West Coast, who were almost uncompetitive at the contest, smashed in the clearances (40 to 18), contested possessions (136 to 77) and inside 50s (73 to 35).

It left a defence still dealing with the absence of Jeremy McGovern extremely vulnerable.

Blues superstar Sam Walsh tore the heart out of the Eagles in a blistering second term, kicking three goals for the quarter and finishing with 37 disposals and five clearances in one of his best performances in years.

Walsh had plenty of company with George Hewett collecting a career-high 39 touches to go with eight clearances and seven inside 50s, while Adam Saad (25 disposals) provided pace and rebound off half-back in game 200.

Making matters worse for West Coast was the fact that Carlton were anything but clean and classy, with their ball use poor at times only to be outdone by the Eagles’ torrid execution.

Desperate to have an impact, too many West Coast players crowded the footy while Carlton held their space so when they won the footy, they had the outlet handball which allowed for plenty of uncontested possessions.

The Eagles made too many costly errors when they finally got their hands on the footy, running directly into traffic or giving it to a teammate who was under too much pressure.

Second-gamer Tom Gross (18 disposals) did his best to compete against the more experienced bodies, while Liam Baker (23 disposals) and Jack Graham (20 disposals and nine tackles) put up a fight, but there were too few who went with them.

Eagles co-captain Oscar Allen gave his side the perfect start with the opening goal of the game in an early win on Jacob Weitering.

It broke a two-week drought for Allen as he started the game hotly, taking several strong marks and impacting the contest as he tried to regain form.

Both sides were heavily focused on offence, playing with speed and overlap in the hot conditions but were wasteful in front of goals.

The trajectory of the game looked like it might change when Carlton forward Harry McKay and Gross collided in the middle of the oval, forcing the Blues forward to be subbed out with concussion.

A pair of late goals from Corey Durdin – who kicked a career-high four goals in his home state - ensured Carlton had a decent lead at the first break, but it could’ve been a lot more if they’d been more organised up forward.

It continued to be one-way traffic in the second term, but while Carlton were firmly in control they butchered the football too often.

Down by 29 points at half-time, the only saving grace for the Eagles would be the fact that the Blues had been over-run in second halves in all four of their previous games this season.

And the nerves would have begun to creep in for Carlton fans when Liam Ryan (two goals) kicked the first major of the second half.

After a series of misses, Lachie Fogarty settled the Blues who began to find their radar to finally begin to put the contest beyond the Eagles’ reach.

It took until the final term and a massive effort from former Blue in Matt Owies for the Eagles to kick consecutive goals in the game.

Making matters worse for the Blues was a late injury to utility Brodie Kemp who went down with a suspected Achilles injury as he went to take off for a lead.

Yet as players from both teams tired and cramped, it was Carlton who ran the game out better and finally.

SCOREBOARD

CARLTON 3.6, 7.11, 11.15, 17.19 (121)

WEST COAST 1.3, 3.6, 4.12, 6.14 (50)

Goals – CARLTON: C Durdin 4 P Cripps 3 S Walsh 3 C Curnow 2 S Docherty M McGovern D Fogarty C Lord W White. WEST COAST: L Ryan 2 O Allen J Cripps M Owies A Reid.

Best – CARLTON: S Walsh G Hewett A Saad A Cerra M McGovern C Durdin. WEST COAST: L Baker T Gross J Graham L Ryan.

Injuries – CARLTON: B Kemp (leg) H McKay (concussion) B Acres (illness) replaced in the selected side by C Lord.

Umpires: L Fisher N Brown H Birch N McGinness. Crowd: 41,252 at Adelaide Oval.