Having lost to the Sting twice already this season, Flames coach Margaret Foster says her side will have to be more creative if they are to break the Southland team's stranglehold on the national netball league title.
The Canterbury Flames beat the Force 52-45 in the weekend's major semifinal,securing them a place in Friday night's final.
There they will have the daunting task of trying to stop the Sting at Stadium Southland.
The Flames lost to the Sting 58-49 in round four and 55-52 in the minor semifinals.
They came close to upsetting the defending champions the last time they met but a couple of botched attempts at goal cost them.
"Hopefully it will be third time lucky," Foster said.
"Our product is pretty good but on Friday it has to be that one step better."
The Sting's chances of claiming their sixth successive title had a boost with the confirmation that goal attack Donna Loffhagen had been cleared to play.
Loffhagen's availability had been in doubt because of a clash with the Tall Ferns' build-up to the Olympics.
"We want them at their best," Foster said. "Our style and their style make for pretty good netball.
"There are no big tall players so it is not target shooting. It is really just gutsing it out one on one and that is just fantastic.
"But we have lost to them twice this year so we really have to go back to the drawing board and come up with something different."
The Force are the only team who have managed to beat the Sting this year but Foster said her side were able to take little from that match because the Force's advantage came through having a tall shooter.
The Sting's win over the Flames in the minor semifinal allowed them to advance straight to the final avoiding a major semifinal clash.
To ensure her players remained focused, Sting coach Robyn Broughton flew in several top players, including Silver Ferns goal keep Anna Scarlett, to square off against her side.
"It just goes to show you what money can buy," Foster said.
"That is the unfortunate thing about our franchises at the moment - it is not an even playing field.
