NSW are on the back foot at stumps on day one of their Sheffield Shield clash with Western Australia after the Blues' young batting line-up wilted on the WACA Ground wicket.
WA debutant Arron Crawford (3-36) and fellow paceman Steve Magoffin (4-36) combined for seven wickets to skittle the Blues for a paltry 177, with only the lower-order heroics of Nathan Bracken (63) saving NSW from total disaster after the visitors had crashed to 8-97.
Bracken also snared the crucial wicket of Shaun Marsh (25) in the final over of the day to reduce WA to 3-106 at stumps, with Marcus North (24 not out) and nightwatchman Trent Kelly to resume tomorrow.
Bracken, coming in at No.10 for NSW, smashed seven fours and three sixes to top-score for the Blues, whose top six batsmen combined for a meagre 39 runs.
Grant Lambert, who made 37 batting at No.7, was the next best after Bracken.
WA started their run chase brightly with Liam Davis smashing five fours and a six before edging Lambert through to Steven Smith at second slip.
The Warriors cruised to 2-106 with Marsh and North in complete control before Bracken struck with the third last ball of the day, finding the edge of Marsh with Phillip Hughes doing the rest at third slip.
Earlier, NSW's opening pair of Hughes (four) and Greg Mail (10) fell cheaply after WA won the toss and elected to bowl but it was Crawford's introduction in the 13th over that put NSW well and truly on the back foot.
The left-armer snared the wicket of Moises Henriques (1) with his sixth delivery in first-class cricket and followed that first-up success with the scalp of Dominic Thornely four overs later.
And when Magoffin sent a sizzling delivery crashing into Steven Smith's stumps and Peter Forrest (16) edged Theo Doropoulos through to wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi, the Blues entered lunch in all sorts of trouble at 6-65.
That soon became 8-97 before Bracken took matters into his own hands with a brutal knock that featured some massive sixes.
Magoffin said WA's impact with the new ball was crucial.
"It's a new-ball wicket," Magoffin said.
"Nathan Bracken proved that at the end there (with his batting).
"It's not a terrible batting wicket, it's not a green seamer but the new ball was moving around a little bit."
Crawford was given the nod to make his debut by coach Tom Moody on Thursday night and received his official Warriors cap from WA great Bruce Reid this morning.
"It was a dream come true to get the gold cap and put it on the melon," Crawford said.
"I was just soaking up the atmosphere and just trying to keep the nerves under control and just trying to stay relaxed more than anything.
Day One Tea Board from the WA-NSW Sheffield Shield clash at the WACA today.
New South Wales 1st Innings
G MAIL c Marsh b Dorey 10 (30)
P HUGHES c North b Magoffin 4 (26)
P FORREST c Ronchi b Doropoulos 16 (41)
M HENRIQUES c Pomersbach b Crawford 1 (15)
D THORNELY lbw b Crawford 4 (11)
S SMITH b Magoffin 4 (9)
G LAMBERT c Ronchi b Magoffin 37 (93)
D SMITH c Ronchi b Magoffin 28 (38)
B CASSON c Kelly b Crawford 0 (16)
N BRACKEN b Dorey 63 (45)
M CAMERON not out 5 (26)
Sundries (5lb) 5
Total 177
Fall: 15 (Hughes), 17 (Mail), 24 (Henriques), 30 (Thornely), 36
(S Smith), 48 (Forrest), 82 (D Smith), 97 (Casson), 135 (Lambert),
217 (Bracken).
Bowling: S Magoffin 19-7-36-4 B Dorey 15.2-3-42-2 T Kelly
10-3-37-0 A Crawford 8-0-36-3 T Doropoulos 2-0-9-1 North 3-1-11-0 A
Voges 1-0-1-0.
Batting time: 252 mins. Overs: 58.2 overs.
Western Australia 1st Innings
S MARSH c Hughes b Bracken 25 (92)
L DAVIS c S Smith b Lambert 30 (29)
L POMERSBACH lbw Cameron 23 (28)
M NORTH not out 24 (47)
T KELLY not out 0 (2)
Sundries (4lb) 4
Total 3-106
Fall: 34 (Davis), 63 (Pomersbach), 106 (Marsh).
Bowling: N Bracken 11-4-24-1, M Cameron 10-4-28-1, G Lambert
8-1-35-1, D Thornely 2-0-8-0, B Casson 2-1-7-0.
Batting time: 139 mins. Overs: 33 overs.