Essendon's hopes of sealing an AFL finals berth have been shot down by Port Adelaide, who led from start to finish for a thumping 59-point victory in their Marvel Stadium clash on Saturday.
The Bombers were flying high on the back of five successive wins and could have all but secured a top eight position, but 10th-placed Port had plenty of the line and played like their season depended on it in their 19.12 (126) - 9.13 (67) victory.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said his team didn't approach the match as sudden-death, but he was pleased with their effort nonetheless.
"It was a really strong performance by a really committed team who knew the size of the challenge and how good Essendon had been in the last two months," he said. "We knew we'd have to play to our absolute best.
"That's what we're capable of ... we've beaten one and two and six and seven and got within a point of GWS last week so we're sort of thereabouts."
He said that while his team had lost their previous three matches, their belief never wavered.
"The noise has been there but we've been committed and connected as a football team and we've never lost the belief of us as a football team."
The visitors got off to the best possible start through veteran Robbie Gray, who booted two of his four goals for the day as they raced to a 16-point lead, as Essendon continued their trend of poor opening quarters.
Gray earned the wrath of a Bombers fans during the second quarter when he came from behind and bumped Orazio Fantasia while the Essendon star was on his knees.
Soon after Gray went down in a tussle with Mason Redman, with Port awarded a 50m penalty which allowed Travis Boak to kick from right in front just before the siren to maintain the 16-point lead at the main break.
The Power snuffed out any chance of an Essendon fightback with six goal to three third quarter to open up a 35-point advantage with young guns Connor Rozee and Xavier Duursma doing plenty of damage.
Duursma kicked the first goal of the term with a banana effort off the side of his boot and then fired off a bow-and-arrow, which drew a smile from Hinkley.
For the third term alone, fellow 19-year-old Rozee contributed 10 disposals, three marks, three inside 50s, and kicked 2.2.
Port continued to pile on the misery in the final quarter and kept the Bombers to just one goal, kicked by Jake Stringer after 15 minutes.
Essendon coach John Worsfold said his team were well off their best and admitted he saw signs of a form dip in their 10-point win over strugglers Gold Coast last Sunday.
Worsfold felt the forced personnel changes, including the loss of skipper Dyson Heppell, had hurt.
"We were a lot further off this week," he said. "We didn't take our chances early but it really came down to that third quarter when we fell away and didn't match them at all."