Adelaide held off Western Bulldogs with a late surge to post an 18-point victory in Saturday night’s AFL match at AAMI Stadium.

The Crows were headed early in the final quarter but rallied for an 11.16 (82) to 9.10 (64) triumph thanks to forward Taylor Walker’s two clutch late majors.

The Bulldogs, still winless under new coach Brendan McCartney, were brilliantly led by captain Matthew Boyd (two goals), while young spearhead Liam Jones also booted a double.

Adelaide’s players ran out for their first home game accompanied by fireworks, and streeted to a four-goal lead inside 25 minutes.

With Jared Petrenko kicking two goals, and Walker booting one and setting up another, the Crows prospered despite losing onballer Richard Douglas to injury.

The Adelaide midfielder, who missed chunks of the pre-season with a hamstring strain, left the ground in the 11th minute.

Douglas was substituted with Tom Lynch, and it wasn’t until the 27th minute that the Bulldogs kicked their first goal, an instinctive 55m torpedo by Nathan Djerrkura.

Djerrkura had earlier thought he snapped a goal, only for a video review to overrule for a point.

Adelaide led 4.4 to 1.4 at quarter-time but the Dogs lifted and crept to within 13 points, only for the hosts to steady with two goals to Lynch which created a 25-point halftime lead for the Crows.

But the Bulldogs responded in style after the break, with Boyd snaring two goals as the Dogs booted four goals to Adelaide’s none in a third-quarter fightback.

The Bulldogs trailed by just two points at three quarter-time, and hit the front early in the last when Jones kicked his second major.

But Adelaide’s Walker helped snap a tense 10-minute scoring stalemate, kicking two goals in five minutes to help the Crows to consecutive victories to open their season.