Illawarra's Regular Season Champions

When the GOAT speaks, people listen. So, when Brian Goorjian says the current Hawks are the best Illawarra he’s ever seen, it’s no small thing.  

That was the mastercoach’s assessment after suffering his fourth defeat to Justin Tatum’s Hawks this season, 95-75 on Friday night. 

The 71-year-old is in a rare position to judge having coached on both sides of the NBL’s fiercest rivalry, including two trips to the post-season as Hawks coach in 2021-22. 

The six-time champion goes to the NBL playoffs by force of habit, and he feels the Hawks have never been a tougher prospect for rivals than they are under Tatum this season. 

“This is the best Wollongong team I've seen,” Goorjian said post-game.  

“They've got a tremendous coach, they've added the right pieces to it, and they’ve got a connection, a chemistry. I thought tonight there was a relentless side to this. 

“[Dan] Grida comes in, who I haven't seen a lot of [this season], and he's just face-guarding, denying passes, running the lane hard. They got so many extra points off effort plays along with firecrackers on the perimeter, [they’ve got] good interior, versatile targets. They're placed in first place … as far as a Wollongong team, I haven't seen one better.”  

It's high praise, but grounded in fact as the Hawks completed a 20-9 regular season to sew up the No. 1 seed, with their biggest challenge now trying to maintain momentum on the practice floor through a near three-week break through the FIBA window and play-in.  

 “That's a great compliment from a great coach, and I appreciate it” Tatum said when told of Goorjian’s take. 

“I'm really excited about these guys the way they played, not just today but the whole season. We could have laid down today. We could have just sat there, took a break and, just let Sydney do what they need to do.  

“It wasn't about that, we wanted to make sure we came out here and played our best, and I think we played better than our best.”  

The win was all the more impressive given the Hawks were again without star point-guard Trey Kell and fellow import Darius Days, the pair on ice until the post-season campaign begins. 

The Hawks did things by committee in their absence, with Tyler Harvey (15 points), HJ Lee (15), Will Hickey (12), Sam Froling (12) and Lachy Olbrich (12) all cracking double digits. Hickey didn’t miss a beat in the play-making stakes after earning a start in the absence of Kell, notching eight assists to go with his points. 

Hawks lob grenade of their own 

It was a clash featuring all the hallmarks of the rivalry, with Goorjian describing the rowdy WIN Entertainment Centre as a “Hornets’ nest” and saying there were several moments where he felt “OK, it’s on.” 

He was no doubt referring to a number of flashpoints, including Bul Kuol being slapped with an unsportsmanlike foul for dropping an elbow into an unsuspecting Lee with the Kings in possession in the first half, while Jaylen Adams went a step further in seemingly jamming a finger in the eye of former teammate Wani Swaka Lo Buluk in a scuffle that saw him turfed out of the game late.  

Until Adams was ejected, noted Kings antagonist Shaun Bruce was public enemy No. 1 for the Hawks faithful after tangling with Dan Grida on quarter-time.  

In a famous chapter of the Hawks-Kings rivalry, Bruce buried a struggling injury-hit Illawarra with a clutch three at Qudos Bank Arena for an 83-82 win back in November 2022. 

It saw the then 1-8 Hawks - battling a crippling injury toll and with skipper Tyler Harvey their only import stock on the floor - fall short of what would’ve been one of the better wins in their history.  

Bruce’s go-to-sleep gesture was online gold for Kings fans, but it now looks something akin to former NSW State of Origin forward Brian Fletcher’s infamous hand grenade try celebration in 2000 that is still replayed in the Queensland camp every year as a motivator.

The Hawks lost their next four to the Kings, but have won their past six straight against their arch-rivals, with Tatum yet to suffer defeat in a Freeway Series fixture.  

Hickey, whose NBL emergence came in that injury-ravaged season, admits he hasn’t forgotten the gesture. 

“I'm a very petty person, so I remember that pretty clearly,” Hickey only half-joked. 

“I definitely still remember that, very clearly, and every game [against Sydney] it's something that I keep in the back of my mind. That’s just the type of guy I am, I guess.”

It made the win, and sweep, extra satisfying, but Hickey said it was more important to ensure his team went into a pre-finals break on a winning note. 

“I could feel it before the game,” Hickey said. 

“I had a good feeling about today just knowing that everybody understands how much this means moving into our season, as we've been calling it, which is the playoffs. 

“We just want to make sure that we're going into that with the right mindset, and I don't think a three-week break coming off a loss is the best thing for us, so we knew how important that was. My heart’s beating out of my chest ready for this.”