Clinging to a spot in the top four, the Spirit will enter a tantalising week 16 encounter at Bendigo Stadium without their star forward Kelsey Griffin.

The two-time WNBL grand final MVP injured her hamstring in the Spirit's loss to the Dandenong Rangers last weekend.

The Spirit are hopeful the issue is small one and want to have the star forward back in time for next weekend's encounter against the Adelaide Lightning.

They face a tall order against a Townsville team containing two of the league's most prolific scorers Suzy Batkovic and Cayla George.

The Opals pair is averaging 22.4 and 14.1 points per game respectively and been the architects behind a run of four wins for the Fire from their past five games.

Spirit centre Gabe Richards conceded it would be tough task without Griffin, who has been in league MVP form this season, but backed her teammates to step up in her absence.

"Kelsey is huge for our team and you can't replace a player like her, but we need to step up," she said.

"Our bench has got a lot of talent that we haven't necessarily harnessed this year.

"Our starters have played a lot of minutes and our bench players haven't had quite the opportunity and they will get that this weekend.

"Certainly for people like Joy (Burke) and Ollie (Heather Oliver) who can come off the bench and give us a fair bit and Ashley Spencer.

"A lot of teams wouldn't have scouted for them so it's a positive for us."

The Spirit enjoy an intense rivalry with Townsville, the competition's two only non-metropolitan teams playing off in the last three grand finals.

They have done the unthinkable in beating the Fire in their previous two encounters this season, both in Townsville.

Richards described last week's loss to the Dandenong as a "big kick to the guts" and believed it would serve as huge motivation against Townsville, which sits one win ahead of the Spirit in second place on the league ladder.

"A win would have set up a good push for a home final, but Dandenong were tough down there at home and we didn't execute the way we needed to," she said.

"Watching the game tape this week, there's things we know we can do better but didn't.

"It's always a bit of a grudge match against them, but our track record against Townsville is pretty good."

The Fire will be on double-duty this weekend, with a Saturday night engagement against the Melbourne Boomers.

With his leading scorer and rebounder sidelined, Spirit coach Simon Pritchard said his team would adopt a "nothing to lose" approach against the Fire.

“No one outside the club is really expecting us to win, so we’ll throw everything at it,” he said.

“It’s a massive rivalry and we tend to play well against Townsville.

“If we can get the win it really sets us up for finals.”

Tip-off for Sunday’s game is 3pm.