Jake Waterman’s goalkicking woes haunted him in the worst way with the spearhead missing the match-winning shot in a heartbreaking one-point defeat to North Melbourne on Saturday.

Waterman had the chance to steal victory for the Eagles with only 42 seconds left in the game, but he hit the post from directly in front as the Kangaroos held on for a 10.14 (74) to 10.13 (73) victory at Optus Stadium.

It was a disappointing end for the Eagles who kicked the final three goals of the match on the back of an incredible Jobe Shanahan marking masterclass to nearly chase down a 21-point deficit early in the last term.

For Waterman, it continued a horror run in front of goals particularly from set shots, having kicked 28.34 headed into the game.

Instead of a fifth victory before the break, it was former Eagle Jack Darling who had the last laugh, kicking four first-half goals to turn the Kangaroos’ fortunes around a week after their belting at the hands of Fremantle.

Darling turned back the clock to produce his best haul in nearly four years as life without key back Reuben Ginbey got off to a rough start for Andrew McQualter’s side.

The 2018 premiership forward was the catalyst for the Kangaroos’ run of six unanswered goals either side of half-time which set up a vital win for coach Alastair Clarkson.

For the Eagles, they will head into the bye ruing what could’ve been after missing consecutive opportunity to add rare wins to their tallies with missteps to Port Adelaide and North Melbourne.

The biggest question heading into the game was how West Coast’s defence would hold up without Ginbey marshalling the troops down back?

And while Tylar Young was brave but outmatched by Kangaroos skipper Nick Larkey (four goals) and Rhett Bazzo did a good job on Cooper Trembath, the Kangaroos were simply too tall for the Eagles’ backline to cover.

Recruit Brandon Starcevich was forced to match-up on Darling and while the Eagle was only 3cm shorter, he lacked the strength and craft to match it with the West Perth product.

In the midfield, Harry Sheezel simply ran the Eagles off their feet with 33 touches, nine score involvements and 10 clearances, while Luke Parker (22 disposals and nine marks) was at his disruptive best down back.

West Coast simply didn’t have the same spread in their midfield. Harley Reid had a blistering first term but finished with only 21 touches and five clearances as Jy Simpkin put the clamps on the star Eagle.

Tagger Brady Hough heavily restricted North Melbourne gun Luke Davies-Uniacke (20 disposals), while veteran Tim Kelly (27 disposals and nine clearances) was the Eagles’ best.

As expected, North Melbourne came out full of fire in response to their disastrous defeat to the Dockers a week earlier.

The Kangaroos were helped by a lack of concentration defensively from the Eagles, who were giving up simple shots at goal with several lapses.

North Melbourne were poor in front of goal however and by all rights should’ve been up by a lot more than the 11 points they led by when Larkey kicked his first goal.

West Coast responded through co-captain Liam Baker, but it was Reid both through his own efforts and the Kangaroos’ ill-discipline which changed the course of the game.

Reid simply dominated the quarter, collecting 11 touches and five clearances, while he was gifted a goal after defender Griffin Logue gave away a free kick.

North Melbourne continued to target the Eagles’ star, but it was to their detriment. Reid could’ve kicked a second goal if not for a wayward snap after Davies-Uniacke caught him high 15m out.

However, Hough was given a free kick and 50m penalty before the home side were even able to kick the ball in as he was dealt some good karma for trying to protect Reid.

It was a near perfect second half of the quarter for West Coast, which was only marred by a horrible looking concussion to exciting young wingman Hamish Davis.

Davis’ head was slammed into the turf when he was tackled by Kangaroos forward Paul Curtis which is surely to be looked at by the match review officer.

It left the Eagles down to 22 players for the rest of the match, an uphill task for a young side halfway through a season.

It didn’t look too concerning when Waterman kicked two goals within two minutes early in the second term which could’ve been three if not for having one taken off him on review with the ball hitting his knee and deemed to have missed his foot.

The Eagles were dominating territory with 11 straight inside 50s and while they looked far less dangerous than their cross-town rivals did seven days earlier, the Eagles seemed close to putting the Kangaroos away.

Darling changed the entire contest as he began to take advantage of a size mismatch against Starcevich.

The 34-year-old kicked three unanswered goals before half-time to give North Melbourne the slenderest of lead at the main break which for much the second term seemed so unlikely.

North Melbourne came out an entirely new team in the third quarter on the back of Darling’s inspirational efforts.

Trembath lucked into a goal when the ball ricocheted off Darling and onto his shin, before Sheezel and Larkey produced classy crumbing snaps to blow their lead out to 20 points.

West Coast finally broke the run when Tom Cole chased down Dylan Stephens to catch the Kangaroo holding the ball before slotting the important set shot.

The Eagles began to look tired and there was a feeling everything needed to go right for them in the last term to claim a second come-from-behind win against North Melbourne.

It started poorly when Larkey kicked his fourth goal, before the Eagles couched up several chances to hit back.

Shanahan finally settled West Coast with his second goal of the last half, before Waterman seemingly put his set shot woes behind him for his third to get them within nine points.

Shanahan had the chance to reduce the lead to less than a kick but he hit the post from only 20m out before making no mistake a few minutes later for his third.

However, Waterman missed the match-winning goal which will leave the Eagles with a 4-10 record ahead of a break before they head east to take on Carlton in round 16.

SCOREBOARD

NORTH MELBOURNE 2.5, 5.8, 9.11, 10.14 (74)

WEST COAST 3.4, 5.7, 7.9, 10.13 (73)

Goals – NORTH MELBOURNE: J Darling 4 N Larkey 4 H Sheezel C Trembath. WEST COAST: J Shanahan 3 J Waterman 3 L Baker T Cole B Hough H Reid.

Best – NORTH MELBOURNE: J Darling H Sheezel L Parker T Blamires C Comben G Wardlaw. WEST COAST: T Kelly J Shanahan B Hough H Reid B Williams T Cole.

Injuries – WEST COAST: H Davis (concussion).

Umpires: C Deboy B Hosking T Bryce N McGinness. Crowd: 42,409 at Optus Stadium.