Hughes passed away on Thursday afternoon after being struck on the head during South Australia's Sheffield Shield match against NSW on Tuesday.

Jackson, currently sidelined through injury added the tragedy had affected everyone, not just professional athletes.

"Absolutely, I think everyone was hit pretty hard yesterday," Jackson said.

"I didn't know him but I definitely shed a few tears for him and his family and everyone in the cricket community.

"As athletes, we respect what everyone does in the sporting world, so it's something we'll talk about as a team and decide what we'll do."

Capitals coach Carrie Graf agreed, saying there was "a real sense of loss" for everyone.

"It's tragic for everyone in sport whenever something like that happens to a high-profile athlete," Graf said.

"It's a reminder to everyone that anything can happen at any time in life and in sport, those tragedies sometimes happen.

"Athletes in particular, when something tragic happens to a teammate, there's a real sense of loss in the whole sporting community."

Graf has implored her team to "play desperate" in the fight to keep their finals hopes alive after just three wins in their first eight matches.

Riding a two-game losing streak, the fifth-placed Caps need a win over the competition cellar-dwellers to keep pace with the league's top-four.

Graf said the loss of key players, including Albury native Lauren Jackson to further knee surgery, had not helped the Caps' cause but was hopeful the team could "keep its head above water" until Jackson's expected return just before Christmas.

"Not only Lauren, but we've had a load of injuries this year," Graf said.

"Hanna Zavecz only just returned last week, Jess Bibby has had a back injury and Abby [Bishop] has just had a cortisone shot in her foot.

"But considering that, I think we've handled the adversity well and we've shown some good signs."

Graf admitted the Caps' horrendous turnover ratio needed to be fixed quickly, despite taking on a Lightning outfit that has been handed four consecutive double-digit losses.

"Our turnover rate early in the season was an absolute disaster," Graf said.

"We were getting 20-25 turnovers a game and still managing to find ways to win because we were doing a great job on the boards to balance that out.

"We fixed that but against Dandenong we slipped back and had 20 turnovers and at this point of the season you can't do that and expect to win."

SATURDAY

WNBL: Canberra Capitals v Adelaide Lightning at Lauren Jackson Sports Centre, Albury, 7pm