Hawks shift focus to Battle of Birds clash with 36ers

"It's understanding how COVID's going to operate, what you're dealing with and how to best work around it," Goorjian said.

"Those specific things for other teams, you just kind of stay away from.

"We were playing Melbourne but we've been focusing on our own weaknesses defensively, not specifically running through Melbourne's plays, knowing this could take place.

"We have some basic things we're not doing well defensively no matter who we're playing against.

"Offensively we need flow, we need to play games, so that's a work in progress. You can't improve in that area, totally, without playing.

"At the defensive end, we've gone way down from where we were last year so we've really given that a lot of attention the last three-four days."

The key to winning Sunday's showdown at the WIN Entertainment Centre looms inside the paint.

The Hawks boast a frontline that includes Australian Boomer Duop Reath, brothers Harry and Sam Froling, skipper AJ Ogilvy and under 19 Australian representative Akoldah Gak.

This talented quintet has the Hawks sitting in first place in points scored in the paint this season (47 per game) but also in 10th for points allowed (41) - an area that Goorjian will no doubt want improving.

Especially when they square off against these five will be former NBA player Isaac Humphries, three-time NBL first team player Daniel Johnson, former Boomer and Hawk Cam Bairstow and Filipino NBA draft hopeful Kai Sotto.

This quartet, along with import Todd Withers, is the fourth-best team offensively and second-best defensively in the paint during NBL22.

Apart from the battle inside, one to keep an eye on will be between point guards Tyler Harvey and Mitch McCarron.

The former, who finished second in last season's MVP voting, is averaging 15.75 points, 3.75 rebounds, 3.25 steals and 2.75 assists per contest.

While his counterpart, who won the NBL championship with Melbourne United in NBL21, chalks up seven points, 6.8 rebounds, five assists and 1.4 steals each time he steps on the floor.

This fixture also presents Hawks Tim Coenraad with a chance at securing a potential club milestone.

The 317-game veteran needs two more three-pointers for 400 in his career, which will see him become just the fourth Illawarra player to reach that level - behind Mat Campbell (1049), Glen Saville (680) and Oscar Foreman (464).

Tickets for the game, tipping off at 1pm, are available via Ticketmaster.