Josh Kennedy kicked seven goals as West Coast’s big men led the Eagles to a 49-point win over the Western Bulldogs in Sunday’s round-one AFL clash.

The Eagles won 21.10 (136) to 12.15 (87) in front of 24,977 fans at Etihad Stadium.

Trailing by 13 points at halftime, the Bulldogs drew within a goal at the 10-minute mark of the third term.

West Coast then slammed on nine successive majors before Shaun Higgins kicked the home side’s first goal of the last quarter, 23 minutes into the term.

Clay Smith kicked four goals on debut for the Bulldogs before being subbed out in the third term and Matthew Boyd had a game-high 38 possessions.

Kennedy fell three goals shy of his 10-goal effort against the Bulldogs in round nine last year.

Midfielder Matt Priddis was dominant for the Eagles and ex-Dog Josh Hill kicked three goals.

Led by the ruck dominance of Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui, the Eagles jumped out to an 11-point break at quarter-time with a six-goal burst including four from Kennedy.

Smith kicked two goals in the opening six minutes of the second term to put the home side in front.

West Coast took back the advantage with three successive goals before 18-year-old Smith continued his stunning debut with a third major and Liam Picken roved the pack for the Bulldogs’ fourth goal of the quarter.

Smith’s fourth goal came in spectacular fashion early in the third term as he was thrown to the turf in a tackle from Eagles fullback Darren Glass before the teenager bounced to his feet and soccered the ball through to narrow the gap to six points.

But the Eagles powered ahead as Naitanui produced a blind turn around Jordan Roughead and a pirouette around Brian Lake to hand the Eagles a 23-point advantage.

West Coast kicked 6.3 to the Bulldogs’ 2.6 in the pivotal third term and Cox kicked a running goal at the seven-minute mark of the last quarter to push the margin out to 38 points as the Eagles took control.

Bulldogs defender Christian Howard was carried off with a suspected ankle injury in the last quarter.

West Coast were without injured forwards Mark LeCras (knee) and Mark Nicoski (hamstring) who kicked a combined 88 goals last season. The Bulldogs missed the midfield presence of Ryan Griffen (hand).

The Eagles host Melbourne in Perth on Saturday while the Bulldogs play the Crows in Adelaide on the same night.