In recent weeks, they have become a formidable  force at the Kingdome, toppling the league's three biggest powerhouses in a thrilling display worthy of a place at the top of the table.

But as mid-season rapidly approaches, the Kings are hovering in fourth. When they hit the road, and the yellow-and-purple blur of the Kingdome is replaced with the din of raging fans clad in opposing colours, Sydney crumble.

The Kings have won just two of their six away games, compared with their five wins from seven contests at home.

The inconsistency was brought into sharp relief this week, when the Kings dropped what appeared to be an easy game against bottom team Wollongong Hawks before triumphing over league leaders Perth Wildcats just days later on their home court.

It is a trend captain Ben Madgen said the team is determined to correct.

"We're happy we've beat the top three teams now," he said. "It gives us a lot of confidence, but we do need to take care of the teams in the bottom half to ensure ourselves a play-off berth."

While Madgen conceded inconsistency was an ongoing problem for the Kings, the mixed results were also "a testament to how strong the league is".

"First and last place, there's not much between them talent-wise," he said.

"Wollongong's lost a few close games otherwise they could be right around the mark, too."

A test looms this weekend, when the Kings hit the road for their season-first clash against Melbourne United on Sunday. Up for grabs is fourth position on the ladder.

"We've watched them a bit on tape," Madgen said. "They've got a lot of talent. They like to get up and down the floor and they shoot a fair few threes."

With the Kings gelling more with each game, Madgen said victory at the weekend would come down to a combination of early points and composure.

"Once we gain the momentum and the ascendancy [we need] to really stick with it," he said.

"We need to put the foot on the throat and extend the lead out instead of letting them back into the game."

Thursday night's four-point victory over the Wildcats proved that coach Damian Cotter's focus on defence was starting to pay off. The Kings contained the Cats' blistering attack to just 28 points at half-time, before allowing them to surge back in the second half.

"I think defensively we're really starting to gel a lot better and trust each other," Madgen said.

"We have a lot of team goals on defence. Twenty-eight points is our best defensive effort.

"So we will be trying to emulate that. We'll watch the game again to see what we did well and what we need to work on in the second half."