The Hawks arrived in a sunny albeit windswept Perth yesterday after the four-hour flight from Sydney and headed to the training court minutes after checking into the Novotel.

After re-fuelling at dinner, the players and coaches spent the rest of the evening playing cards, reading and watching television as they tried to adjust their bodies to Perth time.

''You try and stay awake as long as you can to get used to the three-hour time difference,'' star forward Glen Saville said.

The Hawks had breakfast together this morning before meeting to study game film of their opponents' strengths and weaknesses.

That ''scouting'' session was followed by a light 55-minute shoot-around at Challenge Stadium.

The mood was relaxed throughout the morning and there were no signs of nerves as players chatted and chuckled quietly among themselves.

Showers and lunch were next on the agenda before the Hawks returned to their rooms for afternoon naps or more cards for those who didn't feel like sleeping.

At 5.15pm Perth time, the team was scheduled to make the 20-minute journey to Challenge Stadium where they will be greeted by thousands of parochial Wildcats fans.

Winning in Cats country is always an extremely difficult task and tonight's occasion will be no different.

But Wollongong have defied the odds all season and proved time and again they can never be written off.

''We have to go up another level from where we were at in our semi-final series against Gold Coast,'' Perth captain Shawn Redhage said.

''What was good enough against Gold Coast won't be good enough against Wollongong.''

Whatever happens tonight, the Hawks will return to WIN Entertainment Centre for their first home grand final appearance since 2005 when they host the Cats in next Tuesday's second game.

The match is certain to be a sell-out, with more than 5400 tickets already snapped up and only a few hundred remaining.

Tickets are available from the WEC box office and Ticketek.