Basketball and everything in between

Has there been a more up and down them throughout the season then the Wollongong Hawks?  Recently both Eric Cooks and Glen Saville came out and said that the Hawks need to step up in two main areas: rebounding and consistency.  Lets have a look at their roster and break it down player by player:

Kavossy Franklin: I remember the first time that I laid eyes on this guy and thought ”Why in the hell have the Sydney Kings recruited a midget to play beside Shane Heal?”  After watching him play a few games, I realised why they did.  Kavossy started the season off a bit inconsistently but seems to be moving in the right direction. He is a natural leader and a good choice for the hawks.

Mat Campbell: His averages are a little bit down this season (9.4ppg, 3.0rpg and 2.6apg) and he seems to have slowed down half a step.  What he does bring is solid leadership and he is pretty good at the defensive end. An increase in his 3pt percentage would help to no end.

Glen Saville: Wollongong Hawks fans were very excited when they found that he was returning from the Sydney Kings.  His numbers are significantly better this season but he is in a situation where he is the main man and not just a piece of the puzzle.   

Dusty Rychart: Dusty seems to be doing the job that he has always done for every NBL team that he has played with.  His numbers are not overly spectacular but they are pretty dam good.  He has been a super pick up for them after last years debaracle with their 2nd import spot.

Cameron Tragardh: He had a super off season in the QABL and has had a pretty good run so far.  His numbers are down on last years Most Improved Player award but his team is playing a lot better.  In his last hit out against a tough front line against the 36ers, he seemed to get the job done. 

Anthony Petrie: In my opinion, this guy is awesome for this franchise.  He seems to play the role that he is asked very well and provides good depth at both forward spots.  I loved the way that he didn’t backdown against Martin Cattalini in their game on Fox Sports last month.

Larry Davidson: Larry is a bit of an enigma.  He is super somtimes and average others.  He seems to have a tendancy to float in and out of games. 

Rhys Martin: The poor guy had his car torched earlier on in the season.  He has been taking advantage of his opportunities and seems to be making a contribution. 

Daniel Jackson: I have no clue on this guy so I won’t make a comment.

Lindsay Tait: At the beginning of the season I was really looking forward to watching Tait play and I honestly thought that he would push Matt Campbell out of his starting spot.  It seems that this hasn’t been the case and he hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to press his case.

Head coach Eric Cooks seems to have the respect of the players who play for him.  He took over the team mid season a couple of years ago in wake of the Brendan Joyce decision and has continued on with them ever since.  Since Joyce has left, Cooks has added Tragardh, Tait, Martin, Saville (lost and gained) and Petrie to the roster and lost Daniel Joyce, Casey Frank, various imports, Ben Castle and others.  To me it just seems that (and I have only watched a couple of games) the Hawks are still playing the same game style on offense that they were during the Brendan Joyce era.  Whilst I can appreciate that the playing rosters are similar in nature, towards the end of the BJ era he wasn’t winning.  Maybe the formula needs to be adjusted.

One thing that you can seem to rely upon the Hawks doing is punching above their weight.  If we honestly critique their roster, their talent from players 1 – 10 is not as great as some of the others in the league.  They seem to put in a honest effort each week but are not able to consistently get over the hump. 

So will they make the playoffs?  Once you get past New Zealand, South Dragons, Melbourne Tigers and Perth Wildcats, it is an open race in my opinion.  I am prepared to say that the Gold Coast Blaze are done for the year and I am almost ready to put the nail in the coffin for the Cairns Taipans.  So that leaves Adelaide, Wollongong, Sydney and Townsville competing for play off spots.  Their remaining draw for the year is:

Dragons vs. Hawks Hisense Arena Sat, Dec 6 7:30 PM AEDT
Crocodiles vs. Hawks Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre Sat, Dec 13 7:30 PM
Blaze vs. Hawks Gold Coast Convention Centre Wed, Dec 17 7:30 PM AEST
Tigers vs. Hawks State Netball Hockey Centre Sat, Dec 20 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. Spirit Wollongong Entertainment Centre Sat, Dec 27 7:30 PM AEDT
Taipans vs. Hawks Cairns Convention Centre Wed, Dec 31 7:30 PM AEST
Hawks vs. Breakers Wollongong Entertainment Centre Fri, Jan 2 7:30 PM AEDT
36ers vs. Hawks Distinctive Homes Dome Wed, Jan 7 7:00 PM ACT
Spirit vs. Hawks Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre Sat, Jan 10 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. Tigers Wollongong Entertainment Centre Sat, Jan 17 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. Crocodiles Wollongong Entertainment Centre Sat, Jan 24 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. Tigers Wollongong Entertainment Centre Fri, Jan 30 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. Breakers Wollongong Entertainment Centre Fri, Feb 6 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. 36ers Wollongong Entertainment Centre Fri, Feb 13 7:30 PM AEDT
Blaze vs. Hawks Gold Coast Convention Centre Sat, Feb 14 7:30 PM AEST

They have seven home games remaining with a run of five starting January 17.  The Hawks always play better at home than they do on the road.  Out of those seven home games, I think that they will win 3 or 4 of those games.  On the road, I think that they will win 3 of their remaining 7 games which will leave them with a 14 wins and 14 losses.  Without studying the other contendors remaining games, a 50% win loss record usually gets you into the playoffs.

In answer to my original question: Yes I think that they will get there in the end!

PS…..I just finished watching the replay of the pumping that was the South Dragons game.  I was horrified in how the Hawks played.  They have to many role players and not enough superstars.  I am going to write a big blog entry about the role of the role player but that was an awful performance from the Hawks.  I honestly don’t know if they can make the playoffs!