A dominant 84-52 win over cellar dwellers Devon gave the Northern Hawks the chance to blood some young talent.
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Up 26-9 at the first break, the reigning champions seized the opportunity to introduce a trio of players fresh from their under-19s win.
Lauren Spencer debuted in the second quarter before Taylah Griffin came on in the third and Hannah Lenthall in the fourth to the delight of co-coach Kellie Woolnough.
"Having such a strong first quarter gave us the chance to get the under-19s on and that really changed the dynamic but everybody really stood up," she said.
"Lauren had been player of the match for the 19s and played wing defence for us. She was really good on centre passes and in transition. She's got a lot of potential."
Ashlea Mawer shot at 90 per cent and also put in strong defensive efforts while goal defence Tessa Coote was player of the match after combining with goal keeper Gemma Poke to shut down Devon's goal shooter Hayley McDougall.
Up 45-23 at half-time, the Hawks extended that to 64-36 at the last break.
They head into the bye with a nine and three record and the knowledge that goal attack Zoe Claridge will soon be back after her ANL finals commitments.
Woolnough was confident the team was well placed to defend its title.
"We're happy how we're tracking. Those losses taught us what we need to do and that was a good learning curve. The girls are setting goals and working hard to achieve them. We were disappointed with those losses but with improvement still to come feel we're in a good position to beat the two teams currently ahead of us."
Cavaliers had the bye this weekend and will also welcome Devon to the Silverdome next Saturday.