St Kilda have made the best possible start to their 2024 AFLW campaign, scoring a convincing 54-point win over Gold Coast.
Spearheaded by goalkicking ace Jesse Wardlaw, the Saints led at every change to secure 11.8 (75) to 2.8 (20) triumph at People First Stadium on Saturday.
Wardlaw showed no signs of off-season rust and finished with two goals, 17 disposals and nine score involvements while midfielder Jamiee Lambert (one goal, 17 touches) impressed at the contest.
St Kilda also enjoyed a healthy spread of goalkickers, with midfielders Olivia Vesely and Tyanna Smith among the nine to hit the scoreboard.
Joining the competition in 2020, Nick Dal Santo's charges will be aiming to make their first finals appearances after just missing out last season by percentage.
"It feels amazing like, obviously missing out on finals just makes us want to make that this year," Wardlaw told Fox Footy.
"We've had a long, hard pre-season. We know why we missed out on finals and what we needed to change to get there, so first round we can tick off and hopefully a few more wins to get us there."
The result continues a poor streak for Gold Coast, who have never won in round one.
"We fell down in a few spots, it's fair to say. We got comprehensively outplayed tonight," Suns coach Cameron Joyce said.
"The way we've been preparing and training and playing in the pre-season, I don't think any of us would have seen that coming.
"That's not usually our DNA in terms of what we produced tonight."
The Suns were well served by star midfielder Charlie Rowbottom, who shook off close attention from Vesely to have 27 disposals, five clearances and 10 tackles.
Claudia Whitford (20 touches) and emerging ruck Lauren Bella (30 hitouts) were also among the Suns' best contributors.
After losing a raft of experience in the off-season, the Suns were easily outworked as St Kilda kicked four goals to none to claim an early ascendancy.
Highly rated intercept defender Lauren Ahrens and veteran midfielder Alison Drennan were among six players to leave the Suns in last year's trade period.
The Saints' lead ballooned to 37 points before the hosts finally hit back via a Jamie Stanton goal before the main break.
Gold Coast rallied in the third term but wasted chances to eat into the margin, conceding another goal to St Kilda's J'Noemi Anderson for the only major of the quarter.
The visitors then cruised home after slamming through three unanswered goals in the final term.
