THE Joondalup Wolves and Willetton Tigers enter Friday night's 2016 Women's SBL Grand Final with teams made largely up of local products with one restricted player setting up what should be a tantalising decider.

The Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves and Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers meet to decide the 2016 Women's SBL championship on Friday night at Bendat Basketball Centre with tip-off set for 7.30pm.

For the most part, the Wolves and Tigers have backed in their local products to achieve success topped off with Klara Wischer at Joondalup and Louella Tomlinson with Willetton.

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Friday banks on Lady Wolfpack's depth, consistency in Grand Final 
Parker desperate for this Tigers group to achieve ultimate 

The Wolves and Tigers both had strong seasons with the Lady Wolfpack improving under coach Craig Friday to claim the minor premiership with a 19-3 record.

The Wolves then beat the Cockburn Cougars in two games in the quarter finals before dropping Game 2 of the semi finals at Bendat Basketball Centre against the Perry Lakes Hawks, but winning big in both games at Joondalup Basketball Stadium to win through to a first Grand Final since 2013.

Willetton was coming off the heartbreak of a thrilling Grand Final loss to Rockingham last year and ended the regular season in third position before going on to beat the Lakeside Lightning in two quarter-final matches.

It was then a Grand Final rematch in the semi finals with the Tigers beating the Flames twice in Rockingham to advance in three games to their second straight Grand Final.

Both clubs have strong SBL histories with the Lady Wolfpack getting set to play in their sixth Women's Grand Final. The Wolves won championships in 1990, 1992, 1995 and 2013 while losing in 1997 to the Tigers.

Willetton, meanwhile, is about to play in its 12th Grand Final and trying to win an eighth championship. The Tigers won titles in 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2011 while losing Grand Finals in 1996, 1998, 2008 and 2015.

The Wolves and Tigers have only met in a Grand Final once previously and that was back in 1997 when the Tigers prevailed 62-52.

The two teams did play twice during the regular season with the Tigers winning at home by three points in Week 14 and then the Lady Wolfpack winning on their home floor by 14 points in Week 17.

There is plenty of championship experience on either side with Shani Amos and Nikita-Lee Martin looking for a second title with the Lady Wolfpack after being there in 2013. Amos is also now the Wolves captain and is celebrating her 200th SBL game on Friday night.

Meanwhile at the Tigers have plenty of players who have tasted the ultimate including captain Kate Malpass who is looking to play in a fifth championship with Willetton and Ebony Antonio a fourth and Zoe Harper a sixth.

Much of the way the game is played could be determined by whether or not Wolves centre Ellyce Ironmonger arrives back from the United States in time to play or not. If she does, she will have a strong battle with Louella Tomlinson, Harper and Emma Lobb.

If not, the Tigers will need to rework things a little to still be able to get the most out of the bigs.

Then there is the battle of point guards and captains Malpass and Amos to keep an eye out for with Antonio to receive another big defensive job on Wischer among the other fascinating match ups.

Wolves coach Craig Friday knows how tough and experienced the Tigers are as an opponent, but he hopes the depth and consistency the Lady Wolfpack possess will hold them up well.

"They're experienced, they've been there a fair few times in the last few years and it will be a tough challenge. We look forward to that and you want to play the best, and beat the best. That will be a big challenge for our girls and we're looking forward to it," Friday said.

"There's some talent on the floor and I think they are a little bit like us. Simon has invested a lot of time and resources into his local kids and they come off and play some roles for him, as do my kids.

"But the two starting groups are as good as we've seen in a little while so there will be some exciting match ups. We'll go to work on that and look at some tape, and get some ideas in our head and put plans into place this week and attack it on Friday night."

Parker sees one of the great strengths of Joondalup as being they have been able to have their full group available most of the year and as a result claimed the minor premiership and then beat the Cockburn Cougars and Perry Lakes Hawks on the way to the Grand Final.

"The good part for them is that they've had their full team pretty much all year and they've had that consistency as a result," Parker said.

"They've basically got a mirror image of us with mostly local kids with a restricted player so the match up is going to be pretty even. But we feel we go that little bit deeper on the bench and hopefully that gives us a bit of an advantage."

WOMEN'S SBL GRAND FINAL
Bendat Basketball Centre - Friday September 2, 7.30pm

Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves v Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers