THE Prospect Hawks will be hoping it's a case of third time lucky when they take on Lilydale in the NTFA division 2 Good Friday clash at Prospect Park tomorrow.
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The two clubs joined the competition in 2011 and have developed a strong rivalry after becoming the first in NTFA history to conduct a Good Friday game.
The Demons have won both previous clashes and the Hawks will be keen to turn the tables this year.
Prospect went down to Fingal by 14 points in a competitive performance last week while Lilydale had a confidence-boosting win over Perth.
"We took a lot of positives out of the Fingal game - we missed quite a few opportunities and came out of it knowing a bit more about ourselves against last year's grand finalist," Prospect playing coach Danny Hall said.
"There were a couple of patches early in the game when we didn't play our game but we'll work on that in the next few weeks."
Hall said he expected the Demons to be competitive in a close game and was hopeful of attracting a good crowd on a big day for the club.
"They've had the wood over us for the past couple of years so we will be really keen to try to get the chocolates in this one," he said.
"We've both won one apiece so it's an important game for both clubs."
Lilydale coach Kade Dwyer said the Hawks posed a big challenge.
"We've got a few players returning this week with myself and Andrew McLean and Sam Arnold coming back after playing at Newcastle last year, and Josh Griggs joining us from Queensland," he said.
"It helps a lot and we should be almost at full strength this week."
Dwyer said the Perth game provided an opportunity to trial players in different positions and it was good to get a win after successive losses.
"I've heard Prospect is a fit side that runs all day and we want to get a good start on them this week and not have any lapses which we've been doing in the past few games and dropping off a bit."