The Western Bulldogs’ VU Whitten Oval homecoming has been spoiled by St Kilda, with the Dogs falling to an 18-point defeat on Friday night.

The Bulldogs were playing their first game at their home base for nearly 600 days, with 2807 fans turning up to see if the red, white and blue could register their first win of the 2023 campaign.

But it wasn’t to be, with a five-goal St Kilda burst either side of half time proving the difference between the two teams.

00:55

Edmonds gets a taste and sees double

Alice Edmonds earns her long-awaited first career goal and nails through another just moments later

The Dogs are now winless after five games of the season, with finals seemingly out of reach.

Ellie Blackburn continued her outstanding form, picking up a career-high 31 possessions to go with 12 clearances and six tackles.

Gabby Newton was impressive in her new role in defence, raking in nine marks and finishing with 18 disposals.

Kirsty Lamb toiled hard as ever, kicking a classy left foot snap in the second term.  She collected 20 disposals for the game and had five clearances, while Issy Pritchard (game-high 10 tackles and 20 touches) showed some impressive signs.

00:32

Dogs bite back through pair of cracking curlers

Kirsty Lamb and Rocky Cranston snap through back-to-back benders to lead the response

Alice Edmonds won the ruck battle, amassing 35 hitouts and registering eight tackles, as well as kicking two second-quarter goals – the first of her career at AFLW level.

An impressive pre-game fireworks display officially kicked off footy being back at VU Whitten Oval, but it was the Saints who got off to a cracking start with the game’s first three majors.

Pritchard stemmed the bleeding with a set shot goal to reduce the margin to 13 points.

The Bulldogs surged hard in the second quarter, flipping the contest on its head in a four-goal burst which gave them an 11-point lead.

But St Kilda swung the momentum back with the next three to lead by nine points at the main break.

The margin blew out to 22 points in the third term, before De Berry snapped truly to keep the Dogs in the contest.

But that was as close as the Bulldogs would get, with both teams failing to score in the final quarter.

The Dogs return to VU Whitten Oval next week with a Friday night clash with Carlton in Round 6.

WESTERN BULLDOGS     1.0     5.0     6.0     6.0 (36)
ST KILDA                        3.1     6.3     8.6     8.6 (54)

GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Edmonds 2, Pritchard, Lamb, Cranston, Berry
St Kilda: Wardlaw 3, Exon, Xenos, Lambert, Guttridge, Richards

BEST
Western Bulldogs: Blackburn, Edmonds, Lamb, Wilcox, Lynch
St Kilda: Priest, Wardlaw, Patrikios, Lambert, Richards

INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Nil
St Kilda: Nil

Crowd: 2,807 at VU Whitten Oval