The Border outfit last took to the court on Anzac Day, a trip to Geelong ending in a disastrous, dismal dismantling at the hands of the Lady Supercats.

Thanks to a scheduling quirk, the Lady Bandits haven’t played since but that hasn’t stopped coach Michael Brookens from attempting to fix what is already looking like a perilously leaky defence.

And the first-year coach was also quick to call his players to task about some lax training habits.

“It’s given me time to forget about Geelong,” Brookens said.

“But seriously, it’s given us some time to establish some fundamental defensive principles.

“We’re just trying to get on the same page, just getting used to playing with each other.

“We simply don’t have enough players working hard enough at this point.

“So we probably only go seven deep, there’s definitely a drop-off after that.

“They can’t expect to get better if they’re not prepared to put the work in.”

The Rush have had their own problems to start their SEABL campaign, dropping their opening six games before finally breaking through with a narrow win over Canberra at home last Saturday.

Brookens said there needed to be a concerted effort to involve import pivot Ali Bouman if the Lady Bandits wanted to win.

The 193-centimetre centre is averaging 12 points and seven boards per game and Brookens was confident the Davenport University alumni could hurt Ballarat.

“Ballarat will come here extremely confident of getting a win, like all teams do,” Brookens said.

“But I like our chances, I think we match up well with them, it will come down to whether we’ve had too long a layoff.

“We need to be able to establish a consistent defensive effort.

“Ali (Bouman) is a tough cover for them, we need to make them pay attention to her and open up the floor from that.

“All of this is easier said than done but if we do, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”