SYDNEY Kings coach Andrew Gaze says his team’s renewed rivalry with Melbourne United won’t mean a “pinch of s…” if they don’t improve.

Gaze concedes the Kings have been “dominated” by United in recent seasons and they have a long way to go to match the defending champions.

Since United were formed in 2014 they’ve beaten Sydney in 14 of their 16 regular season games — including seven straight wins dating back to 2016.

Gaze says this gap was on display in Thursday night’s trial loss and it’s why he says it’s premature to suggest the Sydney versus Melbourne rivalry is back based on a tense clash in Bendigo.

Sparks ignited in the final minutes of the game when Boomers teammates Andrew Bogut and Chris Goulding came chest to chest.

“But the rivalry only goes to another level if we can hold up our end of the bargain and play better,” Gaze fired.

“They’ve had an advantage over us in the last two years and until such a time when we can be more competitive on the court, then there really isn’t much of a rivalry.

“They’ve dominated us for a considerable amount of time, so all the argy bargy, push and shove and bulls... talk that goes on isn’t worth a pinch of s... if you can’t be competitive on the court.

“And right now, we are a long way away from it.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to make it into a rivalry.”

In a bid to achieve perfection, Gaze stayed up until 1.30am after the Kings’ loss to Melbourne cutting up tape with his coaching staff.

It was a long process but the Kings mentor knows his side must be better.

Sydney players and staff openly critiqued Gaze’s clippings in a frank video session at Andrew Bogut’s gym at Carrum Downs on Friday.

“We had a pretty long video review of the game, but it had to be done,” the Kings coach said.

“Although our offence wasn’t smooth and it was a bit clunky, that is a relatively easy fix.

“But our focus needs to be on the defensive end and as a coaching staff we thought we were really poor.

“The good thing is the players recognised it, acknowledged it and we went through the film session and put their hand up conceding that certain actions were unacceptable.

“But there are still some really good things we did but we just had too many breakdowns that is going to take a little time.”

The Kings will get another shot at beating Melbourne when they play at the State Basketball Centre on Saturday night from 7pm.