The Capitals have set their sights on a top four showdown with the Adelaide Lightning at Adelaide Arena on Friday night.

The Lightning clash opens a tough road trip for the Capitals before they head across the Nullarbor to meet the Perth Lynx on Sunday.

It means coach Paul Goriss and his squad will have little chance to soak up the Christmas festivities this week - they'll be back on deck for training come Boxing Day before flying 1159 kilometres to Adelaide.

Then comes a 2696km trek to Perth without co-captain Kelsey Griffin with an ankle injury expected to sideline her for up to five weeks.

It gives the likes of Gemma Potter and Alex Delaney to build on their minutes per game in a huge boost for Canberra's depth.

"Any road trip at any time of the season is always going to be tough, Adelaide and Perth are always two quality teams and hard to go back to back against on these road trips," Goriss said.

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"Today was one of the best practice sessions for the younger ones because now they've got a little bit of confidence after playing the minutes they played on the weekend.

"They were more vocal at practice and more into it because they know they're going to have to step up and they've got a definite role to play over the next six weeks."

Griffin's absence means the captaincy role sits solely on the shoulders of Marianna Tolo.

But the star centre expects Canberra's crop of emerging stars to make their mark.

"When I was young and first playing for the Capitals, I didn't play many minutes," Tolo said.

"I came off the bench, I was playing under Lauren Jackson, Abby Bishop and Tracey Peacock. They were all good quality bigs and I learnt so much from them.

"You've just got to learn from who you are playing and training with every day and you get better as a result.

"It's a good experience for those benchie players. They have that chance to step up and a chance to grow now. There's no better way to learn than on the court."