Although the Blues currently sit at the wrong end of the Ford Ranger Cup table, skipper Dominic Thornely has backed his young side to seriously challenge the undefeated Bushrangers at North Sydney Oval on Sunday.
The Blues have managed one win from their first three fixtures to lie in sixth spot while Victoria sits three points clear at the top after consecutive victories.
But Thornely insists his side's position on the ladder fails to reflect its strong early season form.
"We're playing well enough, we're playing good enough cricket," Thornely said.
"It was a last-over game the other night (against the Redbacks) and we fell on the losing side of it."
"I'm confident enough that at North Sydney Oval - the benchmark are Victoria and it'll be a huge test for us - but the players are in good enough form."
The Blues' odds of tasting victory in their first home fixture of the season have been boosted by the return of pacemen Nathan Bracken from a hamstring strain.
"Nathan will be back which is great," Thornely confirmed.
"We certainly missed him in Adelaide, his experience and his left-arm angle as well would have been super for us."
"He's the No.1 bowler in the world in one-day cricket, so you always want him back in your team."
While the Blues attack appears in good shape, Thornely challenged his batsmen to find another gear against their arch rivals.
"We're missing a century aren't we, that's really the only thing that's missing," he said.
"The three starts we've had have been relatively slow however that has been part of the plan, but a really big partnership has been missing."
"The other night I was really disappointed that we didn't get to 280, we only got to 260, (Shaun) Tait got hold of the tail there at the end and my dismissal led to the tail being exposed, so that was the disappointing thing from my point of view."
14-man NSW Ford Ranger Cup Squad
Dominic THORNELY (Captain), Aaron BIRD, Nathan BRACKEN, Mark CAMERON, Peter FORREST, Nathan HAURITZ, Moises HENRIQUES, Phillip HUGHES, Usman KHAWAJA, Grant LAMBERT, Stephen O’KEEFE, Daniel SMITH, Steven SMITH, David WARNER