THE resilience of the Australian Pork Bendigo Spirit will be put to the test on Saturday afternoon when they face the Melbourne Boomers at the Bendigo Stadium in the WNBL.
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The Spirit have endured a challenging build-up to Saturday's clash, with a host of key players far from full fitness or unavailable.
A calf injury kept star centre Gabe Richards out of last week's overtime win over Townsville and she is yet to be declared a certain starter to return this week.
Heather Oliver is unavailable because of work commitments in the Northern Territory; Belinda Snell (back) has only trained once this week; Kristi Harrower is being hampered by a groin injury; and Kelsey Griffin suffered a poke in the eye at training on Thursday night.
"We have been fairly lucky with injuries over the past few years, but we seem to be getting a spate of them at the moment, which hasn't allowed us to be well prepared for this weekend," Spirit coach Bernie Harrower said on Friday.
"It hasn't been a great week, but we've had Maddi Garrick step up for us, Tessa Lavey, Jane Chalmers and Tayla Roberts will get more opportunities this weekend.
"And Chelsea Aubry came into the starting line-up with Gabe out and did really well. She keeps coming up with big plays for us, so with the depth we have in our group and the way we structure our team, anyone can bob up any given time and have an impact."
The Spirit are 6-2 and back in what's now a familiar position at the top of the WNBL ladder.
Melbourne is 3-5 and sixth. The two sides have met once this season when the Spirit won 76-67 on October 26.
Saturday's game starts at 3pm.