After the two teams split their home-and-away matches, the Hawks struggled to penetrate the Pigeons’ defence in the qualifying final three weeks ago, suffering a 39-52 defeat.

Clarke believes the major reason for the disappointing blow-out was Yarrawonga’s implementation of a high-pressure defensive zone.

“They added a new kind of defence (in the qualifying final), so we’ve been working on that at training,” she said.

“The zone certainly wasn’t as strong during the year.

“It was a really good defensive zone and we had a bit of trouble getting through it, so we’ve been working pretty hard to get some strategies to combat that.”

But Clarke is confident the Hawks can find a way to win.

“It won’t be easy, they’re a fantastic team and they’ve got some phenomenal athletes in the side, you just can’t ever take Yarrawonga lightly, so we know what we’re up against,” she said.

“But I’m fairly confident we can put in a good match on Sunday.”

Yarrawonga defender Annalise Bourke yesterday denied the Pigeons had consciously implemented the zone.

“We haven’t worked so much on a zone defence, we find Wang Rovers use a very circulating ring, they’re constantly moving around, so our main aim in the ring is to cut that down and work together,” she said.

“We all work together and communicate well with each other ... that’s the key to beating a team with such great accuracy like Rovers.”

Yarrawonga will enter the grand final after a week off but Clarke doesn’t consider that to be an advantage.

“It can go either way,” she said.

“It’s good if you have any injuries but sometimes it can hurt not having any hard competition the week before, but I don’t think it’s a big worry either way.”