The Northern Bombers have largely had the wood over their Southern counterparts in recent years but lost this year's first two match-ups before squaring the ledger at 2-2.

Much intrigue surrounds the fitness of North ruck Alex Lee heading into Saturday's 2pm Bellerive Oval clash.

Tip: North Launceston by 27 points

Medal: William Edmunds

"They're highly organised, they've been there and done it before and I don't think there's any reason why they can't do it again.

"The last two games they've played against Lauderdale they've won and I think they've got too many A-graders.

"There's not enough superlatives you can give them - on the field we go to battle but you can only respect the work they've done going back to the Zane Littlejohn-Thane Brady era where they started the campaign of six grand finals in a row.

"They deserve all the credit they get because it's very challenging to get to that point and then to sustain it over that period of time and I suppose they're the envy of all the clubs in Tasmania - not just at TSL level but at all levels."

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Tip: North Launceston by 19 points

Medal: Josh Ponting

"They've just had a really consistent year with injury and they've probably flown under the radar until the last month of footy.

"They've obviously been there and done it and they know how to get the job done.

"Their game against Lauderdale the other week was a really strong performance and I just think they're in form and they've got momentum.

"Lauderdale has been a little bit up and down over the last five or six weeks."

Tip: Lauderdale by 8 points

Medal: Josh McGuinness

"I think with Alex Lee under a bit of a cloud .. he's very important for North Launny and their whole list so if he's not at 100 per cent or not playing I think Haydn Smith could really do a bit of damage.

"On that proviso I'm leaning towards Lauderdale - I think it'll be pretty close though.

"I think second game back [Josh McGuinness] is very important for Lauderdale and a lot of the ball goes through him."

ELSEWHERE IN SPORT

Tip: North Launceston by 4 points

Medal: Jay Foon

"If Lee doesn't play - I don't know if Taylor [Whitford] has ruled him out or not - that's a massive out for them.

"I think that could really even it up because Bart [McCulloch] goes from playing forward to having to do a fair bit of the ruck work and Smith's had a pretty good year in the ruck for them - so North Launny just."

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