The Hawks are set to host Cripps, whose loss a fortnight earlier to Burnie – Cavaliers’ next opponents –  has shifted the mindset of the coaches.

“I expect them to really come out and give us a real crack,” Hawks coach Ruth Tuohy said, “because they’re pushing to make sure they cement a spot in the finals.”

The Hobart rivals bounced back hard over Karana seven days later from arguably the biggest upset of the year.

Touhy, whose team is yet to taste defeat in any of their 10 matches, is far from underestimating third-placed Cripps at the Silverdome.

“Their centre court is very fast, so we need to shut down and keep the ball out of their goals because their goalie is very accurate,” she said.

“If we make just a couple of errors and react the wrong way, they’ll be all over us.”

Cavaliers coach Danni Carstens felt the away clash at Burnie is a fresh challenge.

The team are rested from having an extra week off.

“We now know Burnie are certainly not going to be the easybeats,” Carstens said.

“They also have a new, tall target in the shooting end.

“They got the surprise win against Cripps, so it’s going to still be pretty tough.

“I know we got a good result against them last time, but we’re expecting a much tougher contest this time.”

Cavaliers have  dropped from second to fifth – but still with two games in hand – in the past month amid a tight struggle to make the finals.

Facing Burnie with two wins all year, Carstens is protecting against complacency. 

“While we are not underestimating Burnie, we need to make sure we’re convincingly getting good wins against those teams that are not highly-contesting for the top four,” Carstens said.