Adelaide will be desperate to keep Erin Phillips and Chelsea Randall on the park in 2021 after they dominated West Coast in the Crows’ 38-point drubbing of West Coast.

Randall missed all of the 2020 season after tearing her ACL in the first preseason game, while Phillips only played two games last year as she struggled in her comeback from the same injury in the 2019 grand final.

But neither seemed to have missed a beat in the Crows’ first game of 2021, with Randall finishing with 19 disposals, including four score involvements, and Phillips slotting two goals and a match-high 23 possessions in the 8.8 (56) to 2.6 (18) victory.

The pair, who are no longer a captaincy duo after Phillips relinquished the role before the season, led the way from the opening exchanges and kept a sloppier Eagles side out of the contest as the temperatures in Perth approached 35 degrees Celsius later in the game.

Ebony Marinoff, who was only playing the game after getting a suspension overturned on appeal, had 21 disposals and a goal.

Daisy Pearce’s Demons were on the ropes early but regained their composure after the first term.(AAP: Michael Dodge, file photo)

Earlier on Saturday, Melbourne overcame some late schedule changes to beat the Suns by 21 points in their season opener on the Gold Coast.

The Demons were supposed to open their season at home against Adelaide but, a week before the game, they were told to get ready for the trip to Queensland and pulled off a 9.2 (56) to 5.5 (35) win.

They flew up on the day of the game and as a result, could be forgiven for turning up a little bit late, as the Suns’ Jamie Stanton kicked the first goal 30 seconds after bouncedown and cult hero Sarah Perkins potted after the first-quarter siren to maintain the lead.

But the Demons hit back in the second term, slotting five goals to none thanks in no small part to 13 disposals by Karen Paxman, who was on pace to break the record for the most possessions in an AFLW game (35 by Adelaide’s Anne Hatchard) with 19 at the half.

More importantly, Melbourne had jumped out to a 43-21 advantage.

The Suns did not let the lead balloon out to an embarrassing degree, but were victims of their own ill-discipline as the Demons were gifted three goals by 30-metre penalties throughout the game.

Tegan Cunningham, Kate Hore and Krstel Petrevski all potted doubles for the Demons, while Perkins nabbed a pair for the Suns against her former club.



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