The border side will travel to take on Sutherland and Illawarra, with both sides standing as finals contenders.

With the Bandits still sitting at the top of the NBL1 East women's ladder, coach Matt Paps said facing tough opponents at this stage of the season will only make the side stronger.

"We need tough games to really prepare for finals, because nothing is really going to come easy and no one is going to hand it to us," coach Matt Paps said.

"No one wants us to win, like I've said in the past.

"We really have to work and make sure we take these wins.

"We're going to go out there and we're going to make sure we grab it. If it's not meant to be ours, it's not because we didn't do everything we could."

Despite having won 15 of their 17 games so far this season, Paps believes his side is still far from perfect.

"We still have to tinker with our defence and we have to get better," he said.

"It's slowly starting to get there now, but I still think we're a bit away from it being finals ready, but that's fine because we're not in finals yet.

"We're just planning to peak at the right time and hopefully everything will fire during one of these games leading in."

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Both the Sharks and Hawks tested the Bandits last time the sides met.

"It's going to be difficult and we're looking forward to the challenge and are really preparing for finals a couple of weeks later," Paps said.

Lauren Jackson is still unavailable due to Opals commitments in the lead up to World Cup selections.

Sarah Mellington is also likely to miss this weekend, while Tahli Smith is out following a concussion.

"We're going to be a bit short on numbers this week, with the Youth League having finals as well," Paps said.

"But it's no different to any other week and I think every double header we've gone with eight or nine players.

"We'll worry about who's there and what we've got and not what we don't have."

Sutherland is coming off the back of a win against Maitland, while the Hawks toppled Manly by just one-point last round.

The Bandits' men's side will be looking to finally break through for a win to keep their finals aspirations alive this season.

They currently sit in eighth position on the NBL1 East men's ladder.

Following this weekend, the Bandits will have their last home game at the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre against Hills Hornets.

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