Minor premier PINT and a fast-rising St Mary's will meet head-on in Saturday's Women's Premier League TIO NTFL preliminary final at Marrara's TIO Stadium.
The grand final qualifier to decide who meets Waratah in the 2022-23 premiership decider has all the hallmarks of a classic.
PINT and St Mary's have met twice this season, with PINT bolting away to a 107-point win in Round 3 and the Saints repaying the favour with a composed 25-point win in the last round before Christmas.
PINT is coming off only its second defeat this season after Waratah doubled the number of scoring shots from their opponents in the second semi-final to cruise to a comfortable 13-point win.
PINT coach Rick Nolan, who was in charge when the Queenants won the 2021 flag by holding off a strong challenge from the Darwin Buffettes, said premierships were won on grand final day.
The Queenants were coming off a last-round bye when they met the in-form Waratah and were often led to the ball by the confident Tahs players.
"We were flat, there's no doubt about that and it cost us,'' Nolan said when asked what his side had to do to play in their second WPL grand final.
"Obviously we're not there yet and we've got to play better than we did last week, it's that simple.
"Sometimes a loss first up can give you something to work on, but only if you don't have injuries.''
The Queenants will get clever midfielder Reni Hicks and utility Anna Traill back for the 4.30 pm clash at league headquarters, but they need more from key playmakers Sarah Ingram, Jasmyn Hewett, Amy Chittick, and Stephanie Lawrence if they are to beat Saints.
St Mary's have won 13 of their last 14 games since a disastrous 0-3 start, a 50-point loss to the Darwin Buffettes in early January the only blot on an otherwise sensational run of form since late October.
Players like Billie Byers, Katherine Dann, Jemma Iacono, Michelle Friel, Paula Pavic, Emily Forshaw, and young gun Emma Stark have found another leg in that long run of form.
First-year coach Paul Magher said his side's ability to run out four-quarters of football had been a big plus in their winning run.
If Saints can beat PINT in what many pundits regard as the toughest game of the season in terms of what is at stake, they will have achieved something no one thought possible in October.
"Making the grand final is a dream that's close to becoming a reality all of a sudden,'' Magher said.
"I looked at the stats from the semi-final win and I think the fact we still had a bit of run in our legs kept us going when they (Buffettes) had a massive number of entries into their forward that we were able to repel.
"Watching the PINT game I didn't really see anything from them, even though they were a couple of players short.
"I go in confident with every game we play and I believe we can win this one and play in the grand final.''
2022-23 Women's Premier League Preliminary Final: PINT v St Mary's from 4.30pm at TIO Stadium on Saturday, March 11.
