'We know we can do it now': Tigers buoyed by past triumph

The rarity of going back-to-back is not lost on Tasmania Tigers captain Elyse Villani, with her side on the verge of becoming just the second team in WNCL history to achieve the feat in tomorrow's final against South Australia.

While it's not exactly uncommon for one side to have won the title in consecutive years before – with the NSW juggernaut going on unfathomable streaks of 10 in a row and six in a row since the competition's inception in 1996-97 – never have any of the other states backed up their previous season's work.

And that's exactly why Villani and her teammates as so eager to buck that trend when they take on the Scorpions at Blundstone Arena tomorrow, buoyed by the fact they convincingly secured their maiden title over them in last year's decider.

"Last year, we hadn't won it so we just really wanted to go out there and sort of had our fingers crossed and hoped that we were on the right track," Villani told reporters today.

"To be able to do that in the big moments and to get that over the line, it's sort of like, 'we know we can do it now'.

"So now it's about actually going back to that and making sure that we do it under pressure again.

"I think you'd be hiding under a rock if it wasn't something that you're striving for as a team to go back-to-back.

"Getting into a final is pretty special, to be able to do it two years in a row is incredibly special, and to have the opportunity to go back-to-back it's pretty rare for sporting teams."

Last season's nine-wicket win – in which Villani was the star making an unbeaten 111, while wicketkeeper Emma Manix-Geeves scored her maiden century with 104 not out – completed a season of dominance for the Tigers.

That has transferred over into their 2022-23 campaign, where they lost just two games to finish on top of the ladder for the second season in a row.

They also continued to hold the wood over the Scorpions, beating them in both of their clashes in Hobart to give the Tigers the mental edge heading into tomorrow's contest.

"We have gotten confidence from our season, we've won some really important games, and obviously playing South Australia, that does give us some sort of confidence," she said.

"But as I said, finals are really funny things and ultimately, any team can win it on the day, and they've been playing some really good cricket as well.

"We've just got to trust that we've got the side to be able to do it, but we've actually got to go out there and do it as well.

"I know that it's going to be incredibly tight game. It always is against South Australia, so I expect nothing less than that tomorrow."

Villani knows all too well that "finals are really funny things", taking eight attempts to secure her first WNCL winner's medal.

But those experiences, along with the breakthrough triumph last season with her adopted home state, have given the 33-year-old fresh perspective on how to approach the days leading up to the game.

"It's not a normal week, I think it's about embracing the week more so than trying to keep things as normal as possible, because the reality is it's our biggest game of the season," she said.

"So we don't want to shy away from that ... we want to embrace it and we want to enjoy it.

"We've had a really great season, so it's something to celebrate so far, but we also know the job's not done.

"So I think it's about more when push comes to shove tomorrow, that we play consistently and we play how we've been playing to get us to that big game tomorrow.

"That's what we're going to really mark ourselves on, can we in the big moments, stick to our guns and play the brand that we have to get us here and not go away from that?."

Tasmania Tigers squad: Nicola Carey, Julia Cavanough, Sarah Coyte, Maisy Gibson, Lizelle Lee, Emma Manix-Geeves, Sasha Moloney, Clare Scott, Amy Smith, Naomi Stalenberg, Molly Strano, Emma Thompson, Elyse Villani (c)