With two home games in the coming weeks, Mark Hammett's side must cash in at Westpac Stadium when the Blues and Reds come to town.
If the Hurricanes can brush aside the primary colours, they will make steady progress on a congested points table.
Hammett's side lie in 10th on 16 points but the fifth-placed Waratahs are only one win ahead, while the 13th-placed Rebels are only one victory behind.
Such ladder congestion means there's no easy outings and at the beginning of the season few would have predicted the Western Force would be sitting fourth come mid-April.
"Every game is pretty critical and it's pretty tight," Hurricanes assistant coach Alama Ieremia said.
"Bonus points are going to be important and these local derbies are becoming really important. I think, probably in the next few weeks, you are going to see which teams are going to stay with the front-runners and which teams actually start dropping back."
After winning their past two contests, the Hurricanes are in a position to build on their mini form spike or drop back to mediocrity.
One of their issues under Hammett has been their inability to build consistency and take the games they 'should' win.
Coming in from the bye, with home ground advantage and form on their side, the Hurricanes should be too strong for the Blues this Friday if they want to assert themselves as a front-runner.
After Hammett announced last week that this season would be his last in charge of the Hurricanes, Ieremia said the impending departure of the coach wasn't weighing on the squad.
"Our focus is definitely now on the Blues and I think the players are certainly pretty keen. We are trying to hold them back."
There are minor injury concerns around Ben Franks (groin), Tim Bateman (shoulder) and Chris Smylie (calf), while flanker Brad Shields also took a knock at training yesterday.
More will be known on their status as the week progresses but one player who seems sure to suit up on Friday is No 8 Victor Vito.
The 27-year-old played his first game of the season in the Hurricanes' 25-20 win over the Bulls in Napier two weeks ago after overcoming a knee problem.
"I'm feeling pretty fresh, really," he said. "I haven't played much rugby of late."
While Hammett is leaving at season's end, utility back Alapati Leiua and flanker Jack Lam have also confirmed offshore moves while there's reports suggesting fullback Andre Taylor could jump ship.
Vito said the jostling and jiving of players and coaches was a reality of professional rugby.
"On the game-day you're not really worrying about that sort of thing but during the week you're just strengthening those bonds and knowing that's the game we play now," he said.
"You'd like to have all your mates around all the time but the nature of the beast is that's not going to happen."
- by Daniel Richardson of APNZ
