Southern will start as the favourite tonight when it attempts to win a third straight Dunedin premier club title.
Experienced coach Georgie Salter knows her star-studded line-up will be expected to be too strong for the young Janine Southby-coach University-Albion A side.
"Everyone likes to have the mantle of underdogs but we can't really take that," Salter said yesterday.
"If you've won for two years in a row, you don't want to just shrug off that achievement. And we've got some players who have got to high places, including a new Silver Fern."
Southern has a big name in each third, with new international Katrina Grant dominating the defensive circle, former Silver Ferns squad member Debbie White controlling mid-court and Steel shooter Jess Tuki putting up the shots.
Salter has rotated her squad heavily during the season, with Southern losing games to Phys Ed C and University-Albion in the first round, but Southern has struck excellent form in the past few weeks.
Salter's side was taken to overtime in last year's final before easing to a 56-51 win against Phys Ed A.
University-Albion is a young side built around the next generation of Otago stars like Emily Close and Hannah Broederlow.
Southby is confident of a good performance but will happily assume the underdog tag.
"You could say that because they've beaten us the last two times they've played us," Southby said.
"They've got experience but we've sort of been building quietly and we've got nothing to lose."
Southby played down the significance of the battle between herself, still relatively young in coaching terms, and the long-serving Salter.
"I don't think about it too much. I've got huge respect for Georgie and everything she brings to the game. But our focus has just been on us and what we do well."
The club final is normally played in the afternoon but has been switched to 7pm by the Dunedin Netball Centre in an attempt to give it some prominence.
"It's quite interesting. I suppose they're trying to build on the success of things like the transtasman championship," Southby said.
"I'm not sure club netball is big enough to get that sort of following., But we'll be fine.
We train at night-time so it shouldn't be a major."
Salter said the night start did not suit her personally but she was happy enough with the switch.
"It's innovative. They're trying to highlight the club league and that's understandable."
