Mercury (Hobart)

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- RENEE GODFREY

AYC-FRIENDS Arrows and Northern Hawks will be battling it out for a week off and a direct path to the State League netball grand final when they meet today at Kingboroug­h Sports Centre.

The loser will meet the winner of the knockout semi-final between Kingston Blues and Cavaliers.

Arrows’ finals record is impressive. They have been a part of finals for the past 10 years and have won three of the past four grand finals. Hawks were on the end of 2016 and 2017 losses, but stormed home in last year’s grand final to record a 66-57 victory.

Arrows player Jamie Philp (pictured right) is looking forward to the match and while the team is grateful for the double chance, they will be hoping not to use it.

“It’s definitely an advantage getting the second chance, but again anything can happen in finals and everyone brings their A game,” Philp said. “It’s definitely going to be a tough contest for us, they’re a really strong team and we know they can score very really quickly. We just need to make sure we shut down every opportunit­y and limit their opportunit­ies.

“We believe that at our best we are the best and we can beat any team.”

Kingston finished the season in fourth and if Kingston is to advance, it will need to do something it has not done all year, beat a team above it on the ladder.

But co-coach Alicia Leis believes the team has the right mix of players to do just that, and will be happy to carry the underdog title into the match.

“The girls are reasonably confident; we’ve got nothing to lose,” she said.

“We’ve got some really good talent. We’ve got a lot of height and we’ve got a lot of speed through our centre court .” FIXTURES: Under-19s: Hawks v Kingston, KSC, 1pm; Cavaliers v Cripps, KSC, 4.30pm. Opens: Cavaliers v Kingston, KSC, 2.45pm; Arrows v Hawks, KSC, 6.30pm.

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