Hardwick was upbeat after the Tigers' 18-point loss to Carlton and 43-point loss to Collingwood and said he enjoyed the concept of three teams playing off in the opening round.
"The second half against Carlton was a little bit disappointing and I thought we got tired towards the end versus Collingwood; they were the fresher side," he said.
"They just found us out a bit. We had 16 first- and second-year players out there towards the end against a premiership-calibre side.
"We've got 10 to 12 blokes who could walk straight back into our side tonight."
Hardwick named Tom Derickx and Jake Batchelor as young players who impressed and said the experience of facing the Magpies was invaluable.
"There were some guys who put their hands up for round one, which is really pleasing for us," he said.
"We came in with the philosophy in this campaign that we just wanted to find out if a few players would put up their hand.
"We wanted to throw our kids in the deep end at the start and give them an idea of what the game is all about and how they've got to train to get to that intensity and I think we found that out.
"There's no greater challenge. Our last centre bounce was Helbig, Contin and Conca versus Thomas, Blair and Pendlebury.
"If you want to learn how to play footy, you learn to play against the best and although the scoreboard said otherwise, I think our players would have learned a hell of a lot out of tonight, which is great."
Hardwick also remained unconcerned about the Tigers' number of turnovers.
"I think you'll see that across the competition. You've got to remember this is our first hit out and it's still seven weeks before round one," he said.
"We're asking our guys in essence to play a fifth of the season before we actually start our season, so it is a very long time. They'll sharpen up."
Hardwick echoed Melbourne coach Dean Bailey's dislike of the out of bounds trial rule and said it became "almost comical" as players struggled to adapt.
He also said the Tigers would bring a stronger line up to their first NAB Challenge match in two weeks.
