Tasmania Netball League: Hawks and Cavaliers ready to duel again

The top-team Northern Hawks will defend their ladder position against a hot Cavaliers team in a classic unstoppable force meets an immovable object situation.

The Hawks' offence, led by Danni Pickett and Ashlea Mawer, leads the league in points with 605 total adding up to an insane 207.19-point differential.

But they'll come up against a Cavs defence - led by Estelle Margetts, Bec Hyland and Hannah Lenthall - that has allowed the fewest goals so far this season with 288.

Their last bout ended with a 69-48 win by way of the Hawks at St Helens, but captain Pickett said every game against their cross-town foes was a challenge.

"They'll obviously looking to make amends from the last time we played them," she said.

"We know they're going to be a really competitive team throughout the whole contest - they're second on the ladder for a reason.

"We're going to have our work cut out for us, but we're up for the challenge."

Pickett will return to the lineup after being out from Sunday's win against Waratah, with winger Kendall Jones filling in at goal attack for the game.

"I think she had her best game all year and I think her confidence grew immensely throughout the game," Pickett said.

Cavs co-coach Dannie Carstens said the team's "poor performance" from their East Coast loss would serve as a reality check going into Friday night.

"We wanted to be the key defensive team in the competition, we wanted to make sure we were keeping other teams to the least amount of goals as possible," she said.

"After that match, we were sitting third on the table [defensively], so when we came up against our next match the following week we were really focussed on good attack coming from better defence.

"We really honed in on some of the technical things, and holistic game-style we wanted to have on defence and reined it right back. We went from third to first in terms of keeping other teams to the least amount of goals scored ... we've come such a long way and I'm really pleased about where we're at."

The game will start at 8pm, with victory anything but assured for either team.

"They [Hawks] certainly are the benchmark and they've created a style of play that is challenging," Carstens said.

"But if we can deliver on our key focusses on attack and defence: we'll take it to them."