Playing at her third AFLW club, SUNS midfielder Alison Drennan believes the resilient AFLW side will only get stronger as the season goes on.

Named among the SUNS’ best with 17 disposals and a game high 9 tackles, Drennan still sees lots of room for improvement in her own game as well as the side’s but said the wheels are already in motion for long term success.

 “I still feel like I’m finding my feet a little bit and getting used to playing with some of the girls, that gel and synergy is going to come over a couple of weeks but it’s really fun footy,” Drennan said.

“(In the first game) I just tried to find the footy and give it to somebody running out the back, get the ball moving quickly and we’d just run so I’m finding it really fun but I’m excited to work on the things that didn’t go so well today and improve.

“There were a lot of positives, with Lakey (coach David Lake) saying it was the highest score that we’ve scored as a club so our attacking ability is great so that’s really exciting.”

With a league-high seven club/AFLW debutants in round one, the SUNS are green.

But some pre-season bonding sessions have begun building trust within the group, which was put into practice in Saturday’s game.

“You could see we had a pretty resilient tough bunch and you could see that (on field in round 1) just with people not giving up and really just focussing on the game and the small things we’ve got to do to get the job done,” Drennan said.

“It was really good to see our young kids are great like that, they just get in there and just have a go.”

Drennan said it will only help the team improve their game and could see them become a really dangerous side in 2021.

“We’ve just got some things we’ve got to learn like some setups, not letting them get so loose and free out the back,” she said.

“Once we tighten up our structures a little bit I think we’ll be a really dangerous side. It’s very exciting for the future, we’re only going to keep building and moving forward.

“I think we can get a little bit better on the defensive side but definitely our attacking ability is amazing so it’s really exciting for the future.”

Despite going down to the Demons, the first hit out was still filled with plenty of highs for the SUNS including Sarah Perkins’ first two goals for the club and Leah Kaslar’s first AFLW goal.

“Seeing Perko come from all the trials that she’s had, to get out there and celebrate those goals with her was massive so I think it was awesome to just see the girls who scored, it was the whole team who celebrated, they were everybody’s goal, it was really exciting,” Drennan said.

“We’re so happy to be back, it was a long off season just sitting around waiting, not sure even if the season would go ahead so just really pumped to be out there and it’s awesome playing with those girls and the style of footy we play, it’s really free, it’s really fun, you can just go out there and focus on playing.”