Hickey enters exclusive club

The Illawarra Hawks are back to their best and it’s no surprise that it’s been on the back of Will Hickey’s outstanding return.

Last season’s championship hero led from the front across Round 8, including an impressive triple-double in the win over Cairns.

Hickey had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists to lift his team to a second-straight win, recording the first triple-double for the Hawks since LaMelo Ball in NBL20.

“Davo was exceptional,” Justin Tatum said following the game.

“(He) ran the team, his composure… really solid on the defensive end and he finds a way to be in the area where he could be the most effective at. That’s what we expect … that’s what we’ve been missing out on in our first six or seven games.”

Former Next Star Ball had two triple-doubles in his 12 games for the Hawks, and since then there have been just eight recorded before Hickey last round.

Last season it was Taran Armstrong who put up 28 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Cairns Taipans. In the season prior it was Hickey’s former teammate Trey Kell III who recorded the only triple-double for the season.

While this was the first of Hickey’s career, it seems almost certain it won’t be the last. The Hawks star guard also had three blocks, becoming the first player to record a triple-double with blocks since Darnell Mee in 2004.

Hickey joins Will McDowell-White as the only two Indigenous players to achieve the feat, after the former Breaker recorded his in NBL21.

Taran Armstrong (Cairns) vs Brisbane
28 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists
February 6, 2025

Trey Kell (Adelaide) vs Illawarra
16 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists
December 31, 2023

Xavier Cooks (Sydney) vs South East Melbourne
16 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists
January 29, 2023

Josh Giddey (Adelaide) vs Sydney
11 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists
May 9, 2021

Josh Giddey (Adelaide) vs Brisbane
15 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists
May 1, 2021

Josh Giddey (Adelaide) vs New Zealand
12 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists
April 26, 2021

Keifer Sykes (South East Melbourne) vs Brisbane
14 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists
February 21, 2021

Will McDowell-White (New Zealand) vs Brisbane
13 points, 10 rebounds, 14 assists
April 16, 2021

LaMelo Ball (Illawarra) vs New Zealand
25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists
November 30, 2019

LaMelo Ball (Illawarra) vs Cairns
32 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists
November 25, 2019

Nathan Sobey (Brisbane) vs Cairns
22 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists
October 26, 2018

Cedric Jackson (New Zealand) vs Melbourne
16 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists
November 8, 2015

Cedric Jackson (New Zealand) vs Townsville
14 points, 10 rebounds, 14 assists
October 11, 2015