Melbourne Renegades wicketkeeper Sam Harper has conceded the battling BBL side have already reached the "must-win" stage, less than halfway through the season.
The Renegades are hurtling towards a third-straight wooden spoon after an 85-run thrashing from Hobart on Wednesday night left them rooted to the foot of the ladder.
It was their fifth consecutive loss and has placed huge importance on their New Year's Day meeting with the title-contending Sydney Sixers at Coffs Harbour.
"It's absolutely black and white, we need to start winning," Harper said.
"There's no bones about it, we need to get on a roll in the new year and get some momentum going.
"We've got (Shaun) Marsh to come back, Aaron Finch, Nic Maddinson, Mohammad Nabi, you can keep naming them.
"There's some absolute match-winners and gun players in there, so there's no reason why we can't do it."
The Renegades were on top at Marvel Stadium when they reduced Hobart to 3-66 from 10 overs, having sent the visitors into bat.
But the Hurricanes belted a competition-record 150 runs in the back half of their innings to finish at 5-206, with opener Ben McDermott crushing 127 off 65 balls.
It was the second successive match in which the Renegades had conceded a score of 200-plus when bowling first.
"We've got a great, positive dressing room and I couldn't speak more highly of the boys and the coaching staff," Harper said.
"But when you lose five games in a row, it's not exactly a happy change room, if that makes sense.
"We've just got to keep rolling up, keep training well and preparing well.
"The Perth Scorchers were 0-5 last year and they made the grand final, so you never know.
"It's a weird game, Twenty20."
Veteran batter Shaun Marsh has missed the start of the season with a calf injury but is expected to return to bolster the Renegades' top order early in the new year.
It remains to be seen if he will play against the Sixers, with coach David Saker suggesting last week he will likely hold back Marsh until the Melbourne derby on January 3.
