The standard bearers for Australian netball's new wave and old guard will clash on Sunday in a match that will have a huge bearing on Super Netball's top two.
In the vanguard for the established sides are the ladder-leading Melbourne Vixens (19 points), who travel to Canberra to play the Giants (18), the early pacesetters among the three new franchises.
It looms as an especially critical game for the Giants, who face three of the other top five teams in the remaining rounds.
They will drop from second to third before their game against the Vixens if the Sunshine Coast Lightning (17) win at home against lowly West Coast Fever on Friday.
A win on Sunday could virtually seal top spot for the Vixens, whose last two games are against the two lowest teams on the ladder.
The Lightning play two of the bottom three before meeting the Giants in Sydney in the final round.
"There's certainly a lot to play for," Giants defender Rebecca Bulley told AAP on Friday.
"We want to secure a top-two position. When you get a top-two position you are playing for a home grand final.
"It also would be a great confidence booster and an opportunity to put out what we feel is a good game plan for the Vixens."
The Vixens have won eight straight and were the first team to beat the Giants this year, defeating them 59-51 in Melbourne in round six.
"They (Vixens) have the highest number of held balls in the league, which shows they are just so patient and they are willing to wait for their players to be free," Bulley said.
"Normally after about a couple of passes, a team might make an error or they go to goal but these guys really work it around, 10 passes or more until they get into goal."
The Giants have clung to a top-two spot despite losing captain and mid-court linchpin Kimberlee Green to a season-ending knee injury after round five.
They scrapped their way to narrow wins over stragglers West Coast and Adelaide in the past two rounds.
"That's something we spoke about after Kim did her knee, that you don't have to make it pretty, you've just got to keep winning and that's what we've been doing," Bulley said.
