Adopted Tiger Ben Cousins put on a first-half masterclass but it failed to inspire his teammates as West Coast romped to a 80-point AFL triumph over Richmond at Subiaco Oval on Friday night.

Cousins, playing against the Eagles at his former stamping ground for the first time, received a mixture of boos and cheers from the sellout crowd of 39,017 fans.

And their throats would have been sore by half-time after he collected the ball 18 times.

But Cousins, who finished the match with 28 possessions, was one of few winners for the Tigers, with West Coast's emerging batch of young guns inspiring the Eagles to the crushing 17.23 (125) to 6.9 (45) triumph, the club's fourth win from their past five matches.

Eagles sharpshooter Mark LeCras finished with five goals, Brent Staker chipped in with three and Ben McKinley booted two.

But it was West Coast's midfield dominance which sparked the rout, with Tim Swift putting in a case for best on ground honours with 26 damaging possessions and 10 tackles.

Shannon Hurn, Darren Glass and Matt Spangher cleaned up across half back while midfielder Chad Fletcher gathered 20 possessions in his farewell match, although his night was blighted by several turnovers.

Brett Deledio (28 possessions), Shane Edwards and Cousins battled valiantly for the Tigers, who were beaten in every area of the ground and managed just 1.4 after half-time.

Cousins was involved in his fair share of scuffles and could be scrutinised by the match review panel for a first-quarter tussle with Scott Selwood.

While the clash was expected to be fiery, the action started before the bounce when West Coast confirmed Adam Hunter had been forced into early retirement due to his shoulder injury and the Tigers announced Nathan Brown and Mark Coughlan would be de-listed.

And to add further drama, Eagles defender David Wirrpanda was a late scratching after his partner went into labour.

The Eagles blitzed the Tigers in the opening term and could have easily headed into quarter time with a 10-goal lead if not for their wastefulness in front of goal.

They had to be content with a 23-point advantage after booting 4.8 from 15 inside 50s.

West Coast's goalkicking woes continued in the second term as the Tigers finally clicked into gear.

Goals to Deledio, Graham Polak and Travis Tuck closed the margin to 11 points midway through the term but from there the Tigers simply surrendered.

West Coast slammed through 11 of the next 12 goals to take a commanding 72-point lead into the final change, with Richmond managing just a single behind in the third quarter.

Prized Eagles recruit Nic Naitanui provided one of the highlights of the match in the third quarter when he won the centre-square bounce, gathered his own ball and bustled his way through four Richmond opponents before expertly delivering it to Brad Ebert, who sprayed the shot on goal.

Polak also provided a special moment when his snap from 35m out in the second term bounced twice in the goalsquare and evaded two Eagles defenders to sneak through for a goal.

Richmond's night, and season for that matter, was summed up midway through the final term when Jordan McMahon played on from a kick-in and booted the ball straight into LeCras, who strolled in for the easiest of goals.

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