The title defence starts with a testing double-header, but Cavaliers are preparing more for their own expectations than pressure of rival sides.
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The Launceston club took out both the opens and 19-and-under State League premierships last season in front of delirious home fans.
Dannie Carstens, who will hold the reformed role as the club's director of coaching, said all the players have been wary of the need to step up another level.
"There may now be a bit of subconscious pressure, but it wasn't a surprise to win last year either," she said.
"We were coming out of some pretty average form, I suppose, so to first knock off Arrows and then Hawks a week later, well we were just riding on great momentum and great connections at such a late point of the year.
"We knew it was always going to be close and you go into the start of the season that you have done the hard work to make the finals and hopefully the grand final.
"So it was not unexpected, but I don't know whether this year it's extra pressure but it's like we did it last year and we are always expecting that it's going to be close again."
Cavaliers battle Kingston and Arrows in the traditional opening rounds at Hobart on Saturday and Sunday.
Carstens said the Cavs will be wanting to reproduce the sort of form to start 2020 that concluded a brilliant finals campaign to the 2019 season.
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT
"We have been a very successful club as you know, but after a bit of a lull," she said.
"From 2015 up until last year, we were hunting, not the ones being hunted.
"That's changed now with a little bit of a different look to the opens for this season.
"We've got to keep doing things better than what we did last year, and the girls are fully aware that they are going to be the ones that are being hunted this year."
The opens side will bring in prized recruit Zoe Claridge, from the Northern Hawks, and Hayley McDougall, from Devon, while bringing Estelle Margetts back into the fold for the first time since playing 100 games in 2017.
The 25-year-old is set to form a new defensive combination with Shannae Heazlewood while Claridge, who started out playing at the Cavs, will combine with McDougall at the other end and top shooter Mel Philpott.
Cavs have set up goals to cement new combinations and connections early to adjust to the new rotation rule.
The coaching figurehead has worked with opens coach Dan Roden on also producing clean, fast ball movement in attack and relentless one-on-one team defence.
"I think we all pride ourselves on having this high standard regardless of where we finished the year before," Carstens said, "so it's not extra pressure knowing that you've won the year before because it's a clean slate."
The 19-and-unders have elevated Hannah Crawford, Olive Morris and Annabelle Sanders from its 17s program.
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Andrew Mathieson
The day I realised I wasn't good enough to play for St Kilda or be the No.1 spinner for Australia was when I realised journalism was the closest I could come to follow my passion for sport. And it's not just about the scores for me. It's the back story behind the game.
The day I realised I wasn't good enough to play for St Kilda or be the No.1 spinner for Australia was when I realised journalism was the closest I could come to follow my passion for sport. And it's not just about the scores for me. It's the back story behind the game.
