Harding grew up on the Northern Beaches and was a fringe player with Manly before joining North West Koalas for the past two NPL seasons. It paid dividends with the fleet-footed attacker establishing herself as a first-grade player and scoring 10 goals in 11 appearances for the Koalas last campaign.

"I was in amongst a really talented, big-name squad at Manly, which was really good training-wise but I just wasn't getting the game time that I needed to stay fit and also get more opportunity," Harding said.

"I wanted a change and at the new club I did get more game time and more opportunity and I was able to perform a lot better. I felt like I've always been quite a strong player at assisting goals but never really put enough in myself to be noticed. Last year I managed to score a few goals and then finally got an opportunity to try out with Jets."

Jets coach Ash Wilson was impressed by Harding's speed to burn and ability to run with the ball.

"Speed is a significant asset in the women's game," Wilson said. "She's very tall, powerful and strong. That again makes her quite a good asset. She's still a bit raw but she's enjoying the environment and she wants to learn and she's committed to what she's doing.

"We've seen her improve significantly over the past number of weeks being in this environment and you've seen the kind of threat she poses when she gets going. It's about continuing to work with her to make her a little bit more consistent."

Harding has featured in all five of the Jets' matches, starting in their first two and being used off the bench as an impact player in the past three.

"Going into this season, I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself," Harding said. "I did want to try to secure a starting spot and I'm working really hard personally to do that and to make sure when I do get on that I can put in the best performance for my team.

"There's a lot of clubs that wouldn't give me that opportunity, so it's definitely been good to be getting on the field every week and getting that chance to play."

The sixth-placed Jets (four points) travel to Melbourne this weekend for an important round-seven clash with fifth-placed Melbourne Victory (seven points) at Latrobe City Stadium on Sunday.

They lost 2-0 to unbeaten leaders at Cromer Park last round and need a win this weekend, which marks the Jets' halfway point this season, to stay in touch with the top four.

"At the moment we need to start being clinical in front of goal," Harding said.

"But I feel like once one goes in they'll all start going in. I definitely feel like we deserve to have scored more goals that we have. We've created a lot of chances. The good thing is we've created those chances and hopefully they start going in soon."

For faster access to the latest Newcastle news download our NEWCASTLE HERALD APP and sign up for breaking news, sport and what's on sent directly to your email.