The Jets welcomed the Bombers to Ardlethan, and despite a last quarter push from the visitors, finished the game up 56-55.

Coach Alice Clark was impressed with her sides preservation through a tough fourth quarter.

"It was close from the get go, both teams came out pretty hard, neither team gave up," Clark said.

"We had a good third quarter, we had a lead of about five goals at three quarter time, so we had a strong third and then Marrar came out firing, we just had to cherish the ball and hold on to get to the end and be up by one."

Calm under the ring in attack was essential in the narrow win, and the Jets shooters were just that.

A team effort across the court, Charlotte Bell and Abbey Doyle were standouts.

"Both our shooters showed a fair bit of strength in the circle," Clark said.

"It was a good team effort down the court."

With new talent filtering into the side this season, Clark is pleased with how the side is gelling down the court.

Expecting tight and tough games to continue coming at them in the coming weeks, she hopes the team can continue momentum through the season.

The early points, she said, will come in handy.

"I'm very happy with what I've seen as a coach, but I also think our draw means the tough games will continue, they're not going to finish after the first two rounds," she said.

"You don't expect any cruising, you don't want any cruising, if the competition is going to be strong throughout the whole draw that's good.

"We knew we couldn't start the season slow, so I wanted to go out hard, and get some wins on the board so we're not playing catch up late on."

Competing with the beating sun and no substitutes, a round one bye did not fare North Wagga poorly.

The Saints hit the ground running with a 53-21 win on the road over Coleambally.

Despite the unusually low player availability, coach Flynn Hogg had no complaints about what she saw on court.

"I cannot fault anyone," Hogg said.

"Maybe the transition from attack to defence and then defence to attack was a little bit slow, but I think everyone's just getting back into that netball mindset again.

"I'm so excited because obviously we're going to keep growing as a team and developing each game and with more training, so they're playing this good already, in the next few weeks, it's going to be awesome.

"We played like a team, everyone was backing each other u, we were chasing the ball, we knew what our mistakes we fixed them straight away.

"Every game has highs and lows but I can't really pick out too many lows in our game."

Among the depleted side was returning player Tessa Hamblin and club debutant Jasmine Condliffe, who both impressed Hogg in their first game together.

Feeding well off one another through the midcourt, she is excited to see how they develop that combination throughout the season.

"Tess, I love watching her play, she is one of the best players I've ever seen," Hogg said.

"She is so smart and just makes the job look easy on there, even though she's just had a little baby.

"And Jasmine just slots in really beautifully, she's so fit, ran the whole game out in centre and she just goes hard the whole time.

"They worked really, really well together in centre and wing attack, Jasmine does all the running and Tess yesterday I really found pulled her wing defence out of the game, and her feeds were just bang on into the circle."

Defender Sarah Croker was also a huge asset to the side, with her confidence on court the best Hogg has seen in some time.

"It was so good to see that confidence in her, she was going for all the balls, her and Sarah O'Leary worked really well in that circle," she said.

With last year's grand final loss still in their minds, Hogg said the team feels even hungrier this season than last.

Expecting to have better availability moving forward they're ready for the year ahead.

Add in the return of midcourter Keely Alexander from a hand injury, and Hogg from last year's Achilles injury, and the side is set to get stronger as the season wears on.

"I honestly think we've hit the ground hard enough, obviously I haven't seen all the other teams development and I know there's been some movement around, but I think we lost last year and everyone's a little bit hungrier," she said.

Northern Jets 56 d Marrar 55

Temora 66 d The Rock-Yerong Creek 47

North Wagga 53 d Coleambally 21

Barellan 29 d East Wagga 28

BYE: Charles Sturt University