THAT the Albury-Wodonga Bandits find themselves sixth on the South conference ladder with three wins and four losses isn’t through a lack of effort.
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They’ve split two difficult road doubles and recorded a convincing win over the Melbourne Tigers at home.
But they’ve twice been bested at the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre this season, a venue that proved to be a nigh-impenetrable fortress for opposition teams last season.
The first was a narrow loss to the impressive North-West Tasmanian Thunder, the second a disappointing loss to the Nunawading Spectres, who were also the only team to consign the Bandits to a home loss in 2015.
The scratchy start to the season makes Saturday night’s match against the Geelong Supercats all the more important for the reigning conference champions, with a chance to steady the ship against quality opposition on the line.
“We have to get back on track at home, we aren't overly happy about giving away two home games,” Chalmers said.
“Two good teams got the chocolates, we don't want it to happen again.”
Chalmers said it was a crunch game for both sides, neither of whom have managed to sit their straps so far this season.
“It's definitely a big game, they've hit a rough patch of form and we're still a bit up and down,” he said.
“Both teams are expecting a result.
“I think we'll match up against them in a similar way to what we did last year, our guard play hasn't changed significantly so I think the structure stacks up well against them.
“Darcy Harding will play a significant role, he was good for us last week.
“He has to use his size to his advantage and get up on the boards. He could be a bit of a wildcard for us.”
For the Lady Bandits, a win could see them jump from seventh on the Southern conference ladder to as high as fourth, thanks to their relatively healthy percentage.
It’s been an agonising start to the year for the new-look women’s side, who could easily be sitting at 5-1 instead of 1-5 had the results of a number of close games fallen in their favour.
But it’s abundantly clear that the days of 40-point shellackings are well and truly in the past under new coach Jim Wilson.
While pleased with the progress, Wilson says it’s now time for the Lady Bandits to live up to their potential.
The Lady Bandits will tip-off against the Supercats at 6pm, with the men's matchup to follow at 8pm.
