The women kicked off the day with a tough opening match against last year's premiers, going down 21-13-139 to 0-1-1.

Despite the loss, it was still a positive to see the Suns women back in action after a year out of the competition in 2019.

The Suns men were forced to play with 16 players, as a couple of players were forced to pull out late.

Coach Ashley Jones said the side was still able to put in a solid performance despite being down on numbers.

"Overall the boys played fairly well considering we were six blokes down to Inverell," Jones said.

"Our defence in the back line was really good. Branden Barker took some really good marks along the back flank, and if we didn't have Zach Collier at fullback we probably would have had 10 or more extra goals kicked on us."

The low player numbers had a big impact as the match went on, with the Saints able to make regular interchanges and Suns forced to play out the whole game without a bench.

The Suns worked hard until the final siren but ultimately the Saints went away with a 23-23-161 to 4-3-27 win.

Wyatt Roberts kicked two goals while Adrian Smith and Daniel Brown each had one.

Jones said kick outs will be a major focus for the side heading into round two.

"We had around six kick outs that were turnovers that led to Inverell getting more points on the board," he said.

"Our midfield worked hard but were undone by a better drilled Inverell side.

"So we've got a few areas of focus this week for training and will build from there for our game this weekend at home."

New Suns skipper Roberts was a standout for the Suns in the loss, according to Jones.

"He was involved in almost every contest in the midfield. He just wanted the football and was doing anything to get it," Jones said.

The men will return home this weekend to take on the Tamworth Kangaroos this weekend, while the women will take on the Swans in Tamworth.