A flourishing team culture is behind Northern Hawks' stellar 2020 season, says captain Danni Pickett.
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Runners-up to their Northern rivals Cavaliers last season, the Hawks finished the home and away season unbeaten and have enjoyed an average winning margin of 41 goals since round three.
"We've had a really successful season and that's incredibly pleasing coming into this end of the year," Pickett said.
"I think our team culture this season has been the best it's been in a number of years, so I think when you've got that team culture off the court then that always transfers on the court.
"I think with the tough year everyone's had off the court, when we found out we were having a season it was really about doing it for each other and making 2020 a successful year on the court."
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A 3pm date with fourth-place finisher Cripps Waratah on Saturday is all that stands between the Hawks and a fifth-straight grand final appearance.
Hawks won by 18 when the two sides met in August and 42 goals last weekend, but Pickett said both games were tougher than the scoreboard suggested.
"We spoke about those games together as a group and they weren't easy games for us - although the scoreline is a little bit bigger we felt we were just playing incredibly good netball," Pickett said.
"We weren't coming off the court thinking it was an easy game, we came off the court absolutely buggered which was really good so for us it's just about continuing that kind of form heading into Saturday."
CAVALIERS' premiership defence begins two hours later with a 5pm semi-final against Kingston.
The Blues finished the home and away season at 7-5, dropping both clashes with the Northern clubs and a one-goal thriller to Arrows.
"With [ex-Cavalier Issy Maskell] and Bek Hyland they've got a really strong defensive side, so it's not going to be an easy feat for us at all, we're going to have to work the ball continuously," Cavs captain Shelby Miller said.
"They're a team you can never take lightly - they have a great list of names so when they play well they really bring the heat."
With defender Dana Lester (achilles) out for the season, Cavs have called on teenager Monique Dufty for bench cover, while young shooter Hayley McDougall has been growing week by week.
"We've brought up Monique from the under-19s - we're always injury-stricken it seems so there's always a few floating around our bench," Miller said.
"She's hit the court a few times for us and we've started to introduce her into our training so she's feeling a little bit more part of the team when she has to step on and play that role."
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