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But the big loss has not worried key signing from O'Connor Knights, Goran Veljanovski.

Veljanovski, who played with Panthers when they last went around in the Premier League in 2001, did see some promising signs in the heavy defeat.

“As far as structure is concerned we're heading in the right direction,” the attacking midfielder/striker said.

“We let in two early goals but after that we were competitive for half an hour.

“Then I think fitness got us in the end.”

Veljanovski, who has also previously represented Canberra Cosmos and the Australian Institute of Sport, expressed his genuine desire to lead the Panthers into an exciting new era.

“I've played a lot of soccer with [head coach] John Bull over the years and if the Panthers continued as a Premier League club I would have stayed here,” Veljanovski, who scored his side's only goal in the loss, said.

“But this year's looking good it will be an exciting challenge bringing some of our new young players through.”

However, there should be even more junior players at the club according to Bull.

And this has been a major stumbling block in trying to establish the team as a competitive force in a tough league.

“From our point of view we're disappointed that a lot of juniors haven't supported their local club,” Bull said.

“A lot have gone elsewhere and we're not expecting them to show up this late in the pre-season.

“As a result, getting a competitive Premier League side back up and running has been more difficult than we thought.”

Despite the early setbacks, assistant coach Tilly Carbone holds optimism for season 2010 due to a counter-attacking style he is keen to implement.

“We had a big loss on the weekend but we'll be tougher for it,” he said.