Coach Clark Laidlaw said after the Hurricanes' win over the Waratahs on Friday that he and his coaches have been looking ahead to the Blues, and they are a powerful-looking side.
"They showed a lot of resilience last week [against the Reds] to come back from a couple of tries down. Vern's [Cotter] doing a good job with them.
"They have a lot of power coming through the front door and the x-factor they've got out on the park once the game breaks open is obvious."
That prospect aside, Laidlaw said he was impressed with the Hurricanes' work ahead of the Waratahs game despite their six-day turnaround.
"I'm enjoying how much they're prepared to put into a day to try and be a bit better. That's exciting at this time of year to have that hunger to try and improve and find solutions."
After being stung by the Brumbies' start a week earlier, the Hurricanes turned that lesson around to inflict it on the Waratahs.
"The performance in the first half was probably as good as we've played."
The set-piece play from a scrum to score their first try set the tone for the game, although the Waratahs came back from that setback.
"They probably got a little bit of a shock but they came back. But a couple of those tries through the middle of the field with offloads and some of the work that Josh Moorby does off his wing in support and being assisted to tries this season was pleasing."
Halfback TJ Perenara came off the bench to score a try that took him to the top of the all-time Super Rugby try-scoring list.
Laidlaw said that was an impressive feat for a halfback, as few halfbacks were on the try-scoring list.
But Perenara's competitiveness was part of his mindset to improve. He was at work at 7am, and trained on his days off, so he was getting what he deserved for his efforts.
There were concerns about the way the side has tailed off after halftime.
"You can overthink it but it was a bit sloppy just before and after halftime. We just had to stay in the game for a bit. We finished strong and we just have to ride that out, but it's something we're looking at."
They go into the Blues game with the squad in good shape.
"It's been a big four weeks with the Chiefs then that travel to the Drua and the Brumbies and come home. We've used almost all the squad over the four weeks, apart from a couple of players."
Laidlaw was delighted with centre and captain Billy Proctor's leadership in the game.
"He's a player that makes everybody else better. He's a player that once you work with him, you realise how good he is. He doesn't have a bad training session. I've never seen him have a bad game. He's a quiet leader, he doesn't say a lot but he says enough."