North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos midfielder Jasmine Garner says she's ready to take on the tag again.
The two-time club champion has pieced together perhaps her most dominant season as a Roo, averaging 22.7 disposals, 5.3 clearances, 4.4 marks and 397 metres gained per game.
Checked closely by Richmond onballer Meg Macdonald when the teams last met in Round 10, Garner was held to just 13 disposals.
"I'm really looking forward to the challenge," she affirmed.
"(I learned) a few things. I guess I'll take it as a compliment if she wants to run around with me.
"I'll just work as hard as I can and do what I can for the team, and we'll see what happens.
"We might try a few things."
Having been crowned the AFL Coaches Association's Champion Player of the Year for Season 7, it is easy to understand why Garner was subject to scrutiny last time around.
The 28-year-old offered a humbler perspective however, and suggested her centre bounce comrades could be afforded similar attention.
"It's finals footy. I'm sure we'll have a few match-ups around the ground," she shrugged.
"I'll back our midfielders in, and our system in, and hopefully we can get the job done."
North Melbourne needed to beat the Tigers in Round 10 to seal a top-four position, but a late point to their opposition saw the teams tied on the siren.
Just 13 days on, their paths will converge once more.
With a preliminary final spot on the line, Garner says the Roos are determined to dictate the game state from the outset.
"Just as a team we probably didn't get it on our terms early (in Round 10), and they got a jump on us," she explained.
"We had our opportunities, and missed a few easy goals.
"We learned a lot … hopefully this week we can get things looking our way a bit earlier."
North Melbourne's grit and ability to adapt will never be more evident than it was in Saturday night's elimination final victory over Geelong.
As they struggled to assert control over the contest and find offensive flow, the Roos repelled wave after wave of the hosts' forward entries.
The thrill of the contest was perhaps not reflected in the scoreline, with just three goals between the combatants, and the conventional metrics favoured the Cats.
However, as senior coach Darren Crocker highlighted in the post-game meeting with his players, it was a deeply meaningful result to a team that had been on the other end.
"We definitely didn’t play the footy we wanted to play, but as a group we've come a long way just to be able to hold on," Garner elaborated.
"It's a credit to our defenders, they were just great all night.
"We spoke about how finals footy isn't perfect … if we can just make the most of little moments, that's what it's about."
Saturday's semi-final will be played before just 2,800 spectators at a capacity Swinburne Centre.
The fixture aligns with the Tigers' preference as the higher-ranked team, but it has sparked conversation around locking out fans and in the main, the growth of the women's game.
"For the fans it's disappointing but as a player, we're just rapt to be playing a semi-final," Garner told reporters.
"We actually don't mind going to Punt Road. We've played there a couple of times this year and in the past as well.
"It doesn't matter where you play, you still just have to bring that want, and it's a final so anything can happen.
"We're just really looking forward to it."
