Daughters of the west secure AFL Women’s win

Ellie Blackburn of the Bulldogs celebrates a goal during the 2017 AFLW Round 01 match between the Western Bulldogs and the Fremantle Dockers at VU Whitten Oval. Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images

The daughters of the west delivered a commanding display and kicked off their AFL Women’s campaign with an historic victory.

Playing to a near-capacity crowd of 10,100 at Whitten Oval on Saturday night, the rampaging Western Bulldogs showed plenty of bark and bite to power home against Fremantle, chalking up a 32-point win.

Emma Kearney led the charge to take best on ground honours

for the Bulldogs with 23 disposals, while skipper Katie Brennan slotted home two important goals.

The Saturday night telecast attracted a peak audience of 498,000 viewers, hot on the heels of the 896,000 viewers of Friday night’s AFLW opener between Carlton and Collingwood at a capacity Princes Park.

The Bulldogs return to Whitten Oval at 7.35pm this Friday night to take on the Adelaide Crows.