Greater Northern Raiders: underdogs ready to bring it against Clarence

"We've earned the right to play in the grand final and the opportunity that brings," he said.

"We know we're the underdogs, but we're going in to win it."

The Raiders will face their fate at Kangaroo Bay Oval on Sunday against the Roos, who have played lights-out in the one-day season. Clarence only lost one match of white-ball cricket and it was against the very team they face in the final.

Simmonds said the excitement had naturally been building for his side in their first final bout in the team's two-year history.

"It's the time of year you want to be playing and these opportunities don't come around all the time so we're certainly excited for it," he said.

"I don't think it matters whether you're young, old, or even an old bugger like me - you get excited because it's what you play for. They're certainly excited to be playing, there's no doubt about it."

The Raiders underwent a buoyant journey to reach the final, with their one-day form being bettered week-by-week.

"A lot of our players hadn't played any one-day cricket leading into it [the season]," Simmonds said.

"There was a little apprehension there from our players there because they weren't sure how it was going to be coming out of playing a lot of T20 cricket."

The team welcomes back key batters Sasha Moloney and Emma Manix-Geeves, both of whom were pivotal in the side's felling of the Roos in January.

Manix-Geeves said she had enjoyed her first full season with the Raiders, and particularly enjoyed working with state legend Tim Coyle.

"I've been doing heaps of work with Coyley and he's been really good for me personally and really good around the Raiders group in general," she said. "He's been great for our players and our coaching staff - he's an absolute asset."

Though Clarence's top order features the deadly combination of Heather Armitage, Erin Fazackerley and Heather Graham, Simmonds was confident in his side's gameplan.

"I tend not to focus a helluva lot on the opposition - the main thing for us as a side is focussing on what we do and what we do well and execute the plans we have," Simmonds said.

Caitlyn Webster (c), Emma Manix-Geeves (vc), Sasha Moloney, Sophie Parkin, Meg Radford, Zoe Lowry, Sascha Lowry, Hannah Magor, Kate Chaplin, Charlotte Layton, Alice McLauchlan, Ava Curtis, Madeline Clarke, Kate Sherriff.