North Melbourne’s VFLW program suffered a losing start to their 2022 season, going down to Hawthorn by 59 points at Arden Street on Sunday.

The game was not only Steph Binder’s first game as senior coach of the program, but a large number of players were making their Kangaroos debut against a strong Hawthorn side.

Despite the heavy defeat, Binder says there are plenty of positives to be taken out of the clash.

“Everyone was pretty flat and disappointed, purely in the fact we know we can do better,” Binder told North Media.

“The effort was there all day, and that really showed in the fourth quarter where we were able to keep Hawthorn goalless. The most positive thing is nobody dropped their head, but we know we didn’t perform at our best.

“It shows the girls really care and want to do better. We had some glimpses of really good, solid team play that showed we can match it with the best. We just need to have that confidence to play our brand of footy and be daring enough when opportunities present themselves.

“We had a lot of girls who were making their VFLW debuts, and about 75 per cent of our team were playing their first game for North Melbourne. It’s a very new group and we know we’re going to keep growing and getting better.”

Through the glimpses of quality, North’s highlight of the day was undoubtedly Jade Hillas’ goal in the second term.

With the side breaking forward from a stoppage, Georgia Nicholas found Hillas with a quick handball inside 50, with the goal-sneak finishing off the move with a well-taken checkside goal.

Binder says the goal is indicative of how she wants her team to play as the season progresses.

“We’ve got a lot of exciting players and when we can link out through a handball chain, Jade is brilliant at kicking goals,” she said.

“We have a few other exciting players who are brilliant at doing that, so for us it’s about working on our ball movement and building on what we learned from Sunday. It’s about knowing when to control it and build up slowly, but also when to use that power and speed out the back.

"I think as the season goes on that’s going to become key for us.”

With former AFLW players Tegan Cunningham and Tamara Luke in the ruck, along with former AFLW-listed players such as Emma Humphries, Katelyn Cox and Kristy Stratton in its ranks, Hawthorn have entered this season’s VFLW campaign with one of the strongest lists, on paper, of any side.

While the final margin blew out to 59 points, matching up against such quality opposition so early in the season proved to be a good litmus test for this new Kangaroos side.

Binder says she’s proud of her players’ effort in taking on such established players.

"Hawthorn put a really strong team out with a lot of AFLW experience. We definitely knew we were up for a big challenge,” she said.

"In the ruck we had Liz McGrath and she was huge, I think she won the hitouts for the day. When Luke and Cunningham were rotating through the forward line we gave ‘JJ’ (Jessica Jones) the job on them all day. It was her VFLW debut and we couldn’t rate her performance more highly.

"Jen Guy was great all day. She was a pressure machine with her tackling but she was quite creative with her ball-use as well.

"Jen, Annabelle Scott and Brooke Slaney all played some really selfless footy with their high-pressure acts and running all day. We had really good contributors in there getting the work done.

"We’ll take confidence from those little glimpses but we need to get more consistent at it to compete with those really good sides."