The former Dominant Northerners, the club’s first incarnation before adopting the Saints and later Hawks moniker, won the the state title back in 1996.

But current coach Ruth Tuohy believes celebrating that occasion earlier this year at a club function has motivated the Hawks to re-write its own history.

“We had a few speakers on the night and one was a premiership player,” she said.

“It’s not lost on the girls being so long ago and probably most of them were babies at the time; some may not have even been born.

“It really shows that the club has been through from real previous highs and some lows with redevelopment.”

Touhy added it became apparent closer to finals that there was a steely resolve among the playing group.

“When you watch them talk about their club loyalty and how they feel proud representing the club, I would say yes it probably did resonate with them,” she said.

Almost 12 months to the day from a 77-46 loss, Tuohy said the side has moved on from that grand final and were in a positive head space.

The Hawks edged out their Hobart-based rivals in a thrilling two-goal semi-final win to earn the right to host the decider.

Arrows, however, showed they are ready to bounce back in a 70-33 preliminary final victory.

“We’ve had a few changes from the team last year, but most of the group has experienced that grand final last year,” Tuohy said.

“We’ve talked about it a lot at the end of the season and the start of this season.

“Our aim and goals this year was to get back to those finals and grand final again.

“Maybe having a home court (advantage) is going to make the girls feel a little bit more comfortable.

“But there is nervous excitement is probably the best way to describe it because beating them once, I still think we are the underdogs given Arrows’ record.”

But Tuohy also believes the Hawks can carry a psychological edge over Arrows.

“We took the time to be very proud of what we achieved being the first time to beat them in so long,” she said.

“But the girls understand, and we talked about it, that there was no way that they were going to rest on that.

“They’ve been beaten just once and when it comes down to it you play for a grand final every season.

“For them in a final, they hadn’t been put in that situation for a long time.

“I don’t expect they are going to let some of the errors that they made that game be an option for this game.

“I expect they are going to come out firing.”