Under the new five-team finals format, the fifth-placed Thunder must beat each of the other four teams away from home to win the title.

They start their marathon quest against the Hurricanes in Hobart in Thursday's eliminator and a win there will put them into a qualifier two days later against the Strikers in Adelaide.

Another victory will put them into the challenger match five days on against the loser of the qualifier, the match between the top-two finishing Melbourne Stars and Sydney Sixers.

If they prevail there, they will back up two days later in the final.

"We know we've got a long path to win it - that's okay," Bond said.

"We all know the finals, the one time the Thunder won it, took just one player in Ussie (Khawaja) to have a good run and that's the nature of finals cricket.

"We've got enough match winners in our line-up that if someone comes out and has a great day out, then we can win the tournament."

Opening batsman Khawaja starred in the Thunder's sole BBL title-winning campaign in 2015-16, scoring 345 runs at an average of 172.50 and a strike rate of 163.5 from just four innings.

He scored 104 off 59 balls in a semi and 70 off 40 in the final.

The polished left-hander has scored 296 runs in 14 innings this season with two fifties, but hasn't reached that mark in his past nine innings.

His English opening partner Alex Hales has emerged as the Thunder's top-order gun, but Bond is adamant Khawaja can turn his form around.

"Definitely, he is such a class player and he's got an amazing record in T20 cricket," Bond said.

"It's swings and roundabouts. You can have a great tournament one year and a challenging one the next.

"But it all starts again when you get to finals and it doesn't change the fact Ussie is an unbelievable player."

'"We just hope that if Alex keeps doing what he does and Ussie fires, we're as good a chance as anyone."

Australian Associated Press