The Crows put up plenty of resistance early and led by seven points midway through the second quarter before Darling turned Sunday's AFL match on its head.

The premiership forward booted five goals in the space of 10 minutes of actual match time to set up the 16.10 (106) to 11.10 (76) win in front of 43,427 fans.

"Getting him the ball more often is a priority No.1 when he's in that vein of form, so it was great that he did that," Eagles coach Adam Simpson said of Darling.

"It's just that having to rely on someone to get us back into the game single-handedly - it's fantastic to have someone like him there, but we'd like to do it a bit more evenly if we could."

Darling's first three goals came from strong contested marks, but from there he produced the freakish.

After taking another strong mark 20m out and with little angle to speak about, Darling inexplicably decided to play on and attempt a dribble kick on goal.

Defender Brodie Smith was in front of him and stuck out a leg in an attempt to block the ball, but it dribbled through his legs and in for a goal.

"I didn't actually see it, because I thought he marked it 10m out and was just going to go back and kick the goal," Simpson said with a chuckle.

"He was special for that period of time, and we're lucky we've got him."

The 28-year-old's fifth goal was another perfect example of the enigma that is Jack Darling.

Darling dropped an easy uncontested mark, quickly regathered the ball and kicked truly from 40m out while being bumped to the ground.

The five-goal blitz gave West Coast a 29-point lead at half-time, and the home side held Adelaide at arm's length for the rest of the match.

Darling finished with 5.2 and five contested marks from 15 disposals, while Josh Kennedy and Oscar Allen chipped in with three goals apiece.

West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui (13 disposals, 31 hitouts, four clearances) won the crucial ruck battle against Reilly O'Brien (10 disposals, 15 hitouts, four clearances).

Rory Laird battled hard for Adelaide with 35 disposals, 10 clearances and a goal, while forward Shane McAdam showed plenty of spark on the way to three goals.

West Coast's third straight win means they are now equal on points with third-placed Geelong (6-3).

The 15th-placed Crows are now 3-6 following five straight losses.

"We're not going to put it on our back six," Crows coach Matthew Nicks said of Darling's dominance.

"Some of our ball use, we turned the ball over in spots where it's nearly impossible to defend."

Australian Associated Press