While a couple of poor quarters meant Mana weren't able to keep pace with Bulldogs Verdelho and Collegians Mystified over their past two matches it's still a very encouraging sign for a team lacking a lot of top grade experience.

Mana did get themselves on the board during an opening round win over Scots All Saints College and across their three matches coach Catherine Welch said there's been a lot to like about the way they've played.

"The thing that we've struggled with is trying to find consistency but we have a team that's very young. We've got four girls in the team who are turning 16 at some point this year and the majority of the rest of the team haven't experienced playing A grade before," she said.

"When they're getting it right they're putting some good netball on court. I think with our younger players it's a season for confidence building. They need to see that they can be competitive in A grade to give them confidence moving forward."

Mana started in style against Bulldogs in Saturday's game but a tough run of play before half-time led to a 50-37 loss.

Despite the result Welch said the game was packed with positives for her young side.

"We were even with them for most of the game. We dropped the second quarter by 13 goals and that's what we lost the game by. They were able to run with that Bulldogs side except for one quarter," she said.

"We're just struggling to find that consistency, but I'm certainly not disappointed with any of their results so far.

"We played Collegians the week before, who are also a quality side, and it was a similar story. We ran with them for most of the game except for one quarter. Moving ahead, we're really looking forward to the rest of the season."

In Saturday's other games Collegians Mystified beat Superstars United 42-21 and Panthers beat SASC 58-24.

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