Melbourne captain Kate Hore is confident the new-look Demons can hit the ground running and establish themselves as AFLW premiership contenders once more.
Mick Stinear, Melbourne's inaugural coach and premiership mentor, departed at the end of last season to join Geelong.
Former Collingwood assistant Tom Wilson was appointed as Stinear's replacement and will lead the Demons officially for the first time against Hawthorn on Thursday night at Ikon Park.
"It's been very different obviously, being coached by Mick my whole playing career. A lot of our girls are in the same boat as well," Hore told AAP.
"But Tom's brought a really fresh approach. It's been good for our older girls to have to kind of prove yourself again, and also for our younger girls as well.
"We've been learning a new game style, new language. We've had a few tweaks here and there.
"But it's been really good and nice to have had a few more practice games as well this year to be able to implement some of those things that he's wanted to bring across."
Melbourne came desperately close to beating back-to-back premiers North Melbourne in last year's preliminary final.
"We take a lot of belief out of the game last year and out of our season," Hore said.
"We obviously weren't quite good enough and have got quite a few things to work on still.
"But I'm really confident that our group can hopefully take it to the next level and that a few tweaks with our game style and with Tom coming in that we can go to another level this year."
Midfield/forward star Hore backed former Carlton forward Mia Austin to help fill the void left by Eden Zanker (Fremantle), while draftee Jordyn Allen will add drive off half-back.
Hawthorn captain Emily Bates believes the Demons are the perfect opponent to kick off a season of high expectations.
"Obviously, they're a really classy team. Always super skilful. Love the way they move the footy," Bates told AAP.
"You want to play a good, hard team in your first round, so we're super glad it's Melbourne."
Hawthorn finished fourth in the regular season but went out in straight sets.
Bates expected former Gold Coast forward Jacqui Dupuy to take some pressure off star Aine McDonagh in attack as the Hawks eye a resurgence.
"With a healthy list and our prime players bringing out their weapons, I think we can do anything," Bates said.
"We learned a lot last year.
"We've got a lot of development in our young players, and the way we're moving the footy with speed, I think we can challenge anyone."
Australian Associated Press
