Giants kept pace with the Bushrangers during a frantic opening term of play before going down by 37 points in a frantically-paced clash at George Park.

With a stack of debut first grade players and several injured players the 14-11-95 to 8-10-58 scoreline is hardly the worst of results for Giants, even though no side likes to be on the losing side of a derby.

Noyen said going toe-to-toe with the combined might of the Bushrangers' 2019 teams, and without a full strength team available, bodes well for the year to come.

"It was a good hard fought game. I was proud of their performance, especially with two of our key guys pulling out injured before the game, and five debutants as well. We had two of our tall targets pulling out at the last minute but that's footy and that happens sometimes," he said.

"No-one's had any game-based experience for a while so it was about getting those cobwebs out and just trying to work out the Bushies' game plan and how to work around that.

"I'd say a couple of things we need to work on are hitting our forwards and our match fitness as well, making sure we can run the legs off the other teams and making it easier for ourselves in the long run."

Bailey Waldron, Max Currie and Dylan Dukes all made their debuts in the sport while Rocco Yates was superb in his step up from under 17s, earning the club's best on ground award.

Jacob Schneider also came up from juniors to play an important role in the half back line.

Kennedy said the more inexperienced players have been quick to learn and adapt, and it's certain to help the team's cause as they continue to rebuild.

"We had those debut players in our half forward line, which is a key area for us, and I thought they held their own. I think they'll be really good for us," he said.

"We're in that rebuilding phase and to have players like Sam Sloan and Dylan Furnell out with injuries, and Damian Cuff being unavailable hurts. But a big in for us is Derryn Clayton who has come up from Northern Riverina to play the full season with us."

Kennedy said simple strategic changes and learning from opponents' moves will be the big lessons for the Giants going forward.

"Our intensity around the football was really good and positive, and we were very physical, but the problem is that Bathurst Bushrangers have outside runners and they use those players well. We need a strategy to combat that, and that starts by not being over enthusiastic at the football," he said.

"In the last corner we put Jack Goodsell in the ruck and he dominated the contests and centre clearances but we couldn't make the most of it."

It was a great day out for the Giants with wins in senior and youth girls, under 17s boys, under 14s and 12s.