They are certainly in a niggly stretch as they reflect on three straight losses before reaching the halfway point of their season with a game against the Force in Perth on Saturday night.
But there is too much to play for to spend time wallowing in misery or frustration.
"We’re all competitive people - players, staff, management - and we’ve had a number of close losses," Highlanders defence coach Dave Dillon said from Canberra.
"But we believe in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, and a week is a long time in professional sport."
The Highlanders had completed the review into the 34-27 loss to the Brumbies on Friday.
"Obviously, it was another close loss, and when we look back on that, we look at key moments and key factors where we could have got the result.
"We’ve gone away and looked at ourselves. There are no issues with the game and how we’re playing - it’s just some of the execution at times that is costing us."
The Highlanders have scored the fewest tries (20) in Super Rugby, so are having to do a lot of defending to stay competitive in some of these games.
They are running at an 88.8% tackle rate - which sounds good, and is third-best in the competition - but statistics can be misleading.
"The boys keep turning up and keep putting their bodies on the line," Dillon said.
"But we’ve got to look at how we can get the ball back earlier in the phase count.
"We’re defending for big periods of time, so there’s always areas on both sides of the ball but particularly with our defence where we can be better."
Dillon said there were no fresh injuries to report from the Brumbies game.
It is getting close to the point where the Highlanders could be significantly strengthened by the likes of Oliver Haig and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens returning from injury.
The Highlanders flew from Canberra to Perth last night, and will today name their team to play the Force.
Dillon revealed star prop Ethan de Groot, rested for the Brumbies clash, had arrived in Australia, while veteran loosehead Daniel Lienert-Brown had returned home.
