Northern Hawks captain Danni Pickett says there's every chance Saturday's State League derby could be a preview of the 2019 grand final.
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Arguably in their best form since their unbeaten premiership year of 2013, Cavaliers have made it to 8-0 on the back of three one-goal wins, with a 17-goal loss to Arrows the only real dent in the Hawks' title defence.
Asked if Saturday's Silverdome clash could be repeated on August 24, Pickett was refreshingly optimistic.
"There's every chance," the 25-year-old said.
"I think Cavs and Hawks, the rivalry has always been there and the competitiveness has always been there.
"I think that's something we could really look forward to come the end of the season."
Cavaliers stole a 58-57 victory when the two sides met in round six, brushing off a five-goal three-quarter time deficit to continue a dream start to the season.
The Hawks have since bounced back with impressive wins over Arrows and Cripps, with improved consistency identified as the secret ingredient.
"We felt like the last time we played Cavs we played a good brand of netball but not for long enough, so consistency is the key for us and putting together a full four quarters for the game," Pickett said.
"We've been playing a really good 10 minutes per quarter but we need to push that out to 14 or 15 minutes."
Cavaliers vice-captain Dana Lester, who came up through the under-19s in the all-conquering 2013 season, said her team was still looking to improve on their spotless yet injury-interrupted start to the year.
Dan Roden's team still has a number of key players missing in defence, but has been buoyed by the return of Dannie Carstens.
"We've definitely had to work hard bringing in some different players for the makeup of our team, but I think our strong defensive pressure and fast ball movement in attack has brought us those wins lately and kept us in front," Lester said.
"But we won't be getting complacent, we'll continue to work on things that we're not so confident with at the moment."
The game starts at 6.40pm.
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