Live stream: Northern Hawks take on Cavaliers in Tasmanian Netball League grand final

Ash Mawer will go down as one of the greatest TNL players after leading her beloved Hawks to their third title in three years with 50-point haul against the Cavaliers. Watch the replay here.

The enormity of helping the Hawks win a third straight TNL premiership, then announcing she will retire, overwhelmed an emotional Tessa Coote after going out in the best possible style.

The defender was crowned player of the grand final after the 56-48 win over the Cavaliers, and had to pause several times during a teary farewell addressing the big crowd at the Silverdome on Saturday night.

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The Hawks are TNL champions ... again

PREVIEW

There’s no one better placed to appraise where Hawks shooter Ash Mawer sits among the TNL’s all-time best players than her co-captain Tessa Coote.

As a defender, Coote scrimmages with the goal shooter week after week and has watched her dominate in the Hawks’ flags the past two years.

After an unbeaten campaign thus far they have the chance to stretch that run to three in the grand final local derby against the Cavaliers at the Silverdome on Saturday night.

Catch the big game and the earlier U19 decider between Cavs and Cripps LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on Kommunity TV and The Mercury’s website.

Check the LIVE STREAM schedule for full details.

Mawer has won five TNL Most Valuable Player awards, including the past four.

“Ash is definitely one of the greatest players the TNL has ever seen. I rate her so highly,” Coote said.

“I train against her two nights a week and I know it’s a hard job against Ash. She’s just amazing.

“Having to train against her pushes me and makes me a better player as well, because she’s the cream of the crop.”

Hawks co-captain Ash Mawer in action. Picture: Linda Higginson

The task of trying to limit her impact will be given to the Cavs’ young defenders Paige O’Neill and Lily Case.

O’Neill played a pivotal role in the club’s U19 team’s unbeaten season last year, and was recently invited to train with Adelaide Thunderbirds.

Cavs skipper Shelby Miller backed the youngsters to continue to shine as they look to pin down Mawer and fellow shooters Courtney Treloar and Kendall Jones.

“We’ve got a very different team to last year’s grand final. We’ve got quite a lot of young girls coming up from under-19, so it’s a very different feel this year and about managing nerves on grand final day,” she said.

“Our defenders are the youngest in the team with Lily and Paige, they’ve done an amazing job against them.

“You’re not going to win ball in the circle that often with Hawks, so you have to be ready to attack it elsewhere, which they’ve done an incredible job at.

“One-on-one is the brand of defence we like to play. We’ve worked really hard on it the back end of the season.”

The Hawks won the first Launceston derby this season by 19 goals, but the Cavs closed the gap with one goal and six goal losses since.

“Against them it’s about consistency, we’ve learned you have to play 15 minutes for four quarters against them,” Miller said.

Cavaliers skipper Shelby Miller during last year’s TNL grand final.

“Any lapses and they can score quickly. It’s definitely doable, we just have to be more consistent with our efforts.

“We’ve done a lot of scenario work at training, pretending we’re two down or two up and have the clock on, so we are prepared for all scenarios in the grand final.”

Despite their unbeaten status, Mawer said the Hawks are taking nothing for granted and always looking to improve to ensure they hit their peak for the decider.

“I love being pushed and being challenged. Coming up against people like Paige who really like to push you for 60 minutes, it’s a really good test,” she said.

“Across those games we still had quarters we lost and learned things from that. We’re still building toward that final game this weekend.”

Miller summed the Launceston derby up best before the winner-takes-all showdown.

“We all get along really well off court. But when the whistle goes we’re not friends anymore for an hour, and after that we’re friends again.”