After being defeated by their upcoming opponents two weeks ago, Burnie Baptist fought their way into the grand final with a 2-0 win over South Burnie last weekend in which their defenders and strikers worked in unison to deliver the ultimate team performance.

Burnie Baptist knows what it’s like to taste premiership success and chasing back-to-back glory has driven the side through the season with only two losses coming in their premiership defence.

Building on the platform set last season, South Launceston has been a force to be reckoned with in 2018, as the only side to have eclipsed the 100-goal mark during the home-and-away roster.

Four members of the Suns’ line up Kurt Budgeon, Alastair McBain, Brad Buchanan and Keelan Beattie, have scored over 15 goals each throughout the season and will be tough to contain on Saturday.

South Launceston holds the home ground advantage over their opponents due to their qualifying final win, with the Northern Hockey Centre playing host to this mouth-watering showdown between the season’s top two sides at 1pm.

The women’s competition also offers an enthralling grand final, with the qualifying final rematch between City Marians and West Devonport occurring on the big stage.

The two sides were almost unable to be split in their clash two weeks ago, with a sudden death penalty shoot-out the only solution after the usual shoot-out format failed to break the deadlock produced by a 2-all draw in regulation time.

West Devonport came off second best, but undeterred by the tight loss, they were handed a lifeline, earning the right to compete in the grand final thanks to a 3-0 win over underdogs Launceston City.

West hit the scoreboard early and remained composed despite City’s strong defence giving themselves the opportunity at a fourth straight premiership and a continued stranglehold on the GNLW competition.

Looking to break that stranglehold are this year’s minor premiers, City Marians, who have had the upper hand over West throughout the season.

Winning each of the three previous meetings, City was only defeated once in the home-and-away portion of 2018 and has used its aggressive pace and skill to tear apart its opponents.

While both sides present a quality attacking front, both side’s defensive units conceded only 16 goals throughout the home-and-away season, with full backs Brooke Grubb and Petrina Birtwistle on top of their game for Marians and a combination of West Devonport’s defenders slotting into their full back roles.

McKenna Park, City Marians’ home pitch, hosts what could be one of the best matches seen this year at 2pm.