But, despite first position on the South East Australian Basketball League ladder, the Cobras are also seeking redemption after going down to Geelong last weekend in front of a home crowd.

Both teams are without their head coaches as Nathan Cooper-Brown from the Ballarat GMHBA Miners and Justin Schueller from Kilsyth work together in Argentina coaching the Australian team in the lead up to the FIBA Under-17 World Cup.

Miners acting head coach Rob Baker described the team’s loss to Mount Gambier last weekend as a “real wake up call” for the players. 

“We’ve really worked on our individual defensive pressure because it lacked in that first quarter – that was the thing that killed us last week,” Baker said.

“There was just no ball pressure and we let Mount Gambier do whatever they wished, so this week we will make sure Kilsyth don’t dictate what happens on offence.”

Baker said when it came to defence the onus was on both the individual and the team as a whole.

“Defence is on the individual player to make sure they contain their own man, but it is on the team to make sure everything behind them is working as well,” he said. 

“It’s just making sure our spacing is right, our positions are right and making sure we are accountable for our man.”

Offensively, the Miners are focused on pace and aiming for more than 100 shots after falling well short of their targets last weekend.

But the team is well aware of the challenge ahead.

“Kilsyth is a very well-organised team, they rely on their offensive structure and they have a couple of really good shooters,” Baker said.

“Felix Von Hofe is electric off the bench, they go deep as well, and their bigs are strong, which suits us as we’ve got big Cam McCallum and Marvin (King-Davis) inside, so we match up well.”

With import Davon Usher out for the season, Nic Pozoglou steps up in a starting role, while young guns Ross Weightman and Tristan Fisher will enjoy extra minutes on court for the Miners.

“They trained the house down those guys, because they know the opportunity is there, so they are really looking forward to getting a bigger role,” Baker said.

“We’ve been really disappointed with our form the last couple of weeks, we’ve dropped games we probably shouldn’t have. 

“But the guys are super ready and obviously this is a huge game for us.”