"Unlucky" Hawks Ferocious in Fight

The NBL23 win/loss column makes for grim reading for Illawarra Hawks fans. After their pair of tight losses in Round 15 they sit rooted to the bottom of the ladder with two wins and 21 losses.

The same rhetoric seems to surround the Hawks on a weekly basis. While they sit stranded in tenth place, they’re not being blown out of the water. If there was an honourable loss category for this season Illawarra’s tally would easily be in double-digits.

They led by two points with just over a minute remaining before falling to the Taipans by five points on Friday night, and then lost to the ladder-leading Kings by the same margin on Sunday.

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“It’s inspiring stuff from the Hawks when you think about they’ve had nothing to play for for a long time,” Peter Hooley said on NBL Today.

“They’ve been one of the unluckiest teams to lose four imports to season ending injuries. That doesn’t happen to anybody else.

“They had a period through the mid-part of the season where they looked like they dropped their heads and it was disappointing but now they’re just continuing to fight.

“I think it says a lot about Jacob Jackomas and the players that they’re willing to fight for him and the message he’s trying to get across.”

It’s been a baptism of fire for first-year head coach Jackomas, and with his contract up at the end of the season rumours will undoubtedly begin to swirl surrounding his future at the helm of the Wollongong side.

Hawks General Manager Mat Campbell said Jackomas was safe in his position going forward last week, and Hooley believes the head coach is the right man to take the Hawks forward.

“Unfortunately, in a professional landscape when a team goes 2-21 – which they currently are – you’re going to analyse where you want to go and what you want to do next season,” he said.

“But you have to take into account everything that’s gone against them.

“They’ve been through a really rough patch and I think a lot of credit goes to the coach.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Kings retain the top spot and claim bragging rights for NSW ?<br><br>The Foot Locker Player of the Game goes to Derrick Walton Jr. ? <a href="https://t.co/b4h7DxgF5N">pic.twitter.com/b4h7DxgF5N</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1614521135777067008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sydney’s victory over the Hawks saw them tick over their sixth consecutive victory. Their last loss came in the form of a double-overtime classic against South East Melbourne on December 18.

The Kings’ run home isn’t a simple one. They play the Breakers, JackJumpers, Phoenix and 36ers between a pair of clashes with the Wildcats. While they don’t play the other side that currently sits in the top two – Cairns – they also don’t play either of the bottom two for the rest of the regular season.

Hooley believes a loss running into the playoffs could help the Kings become even better.

“I think a loss is probably going to do them some good at the end of the season heading towards finals so they can really snap back in,” Hooley said.

“Right now they might feel like it’s a little bit easy – and so they should. They’re a level above the competition and they’re flying.”