Stronger. Louder. Together. The Hawks schedule for NBL27 is out!

The NBL27 schedule is here. 21 rounds. 33 games. One mission.

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Last season hurt!

The Illawarra Hawks finished NBL26 one win short of the play-in tournament. Not one win short of a championship. One win short of even getting a shot. For a club that lifted the NBL25 trophy, beating Melbourne United in five games, just twelve months earlier, that's not a rough patch. That's a gut punch.

The boys felt it. Coach Justin Tatum felt it. Every Hawkhead in the Illawarra felt it.

Now watch what happens next.

NBL27 tips off at Spark Arena on Sunday 20 September 2026. The Illawarra Hawks are coming back louder, stronger, and with something to prove to every team in this competition.

The Honest Truth About NBL26

There's no point dressing it up. The championship defence never got off the ground.

An 0-3 start. A brutal early road stretch. Injuries at the worst possible times. A season that flickered back to life, Wani's miraculous tip-in to topple the ladder-leading 36ers, QJ Peterson's record-breaking 42-point night against Phoenix, Hickey's historic triple-double in Cairns, but never caught fire consistently enough to matter when February came.

The Hawks closed the season with back-to-back statement wins over Melbourne United and Tasmania, going out playing the best basketball of their year.

Too little. Too late.

This Is What a Comeback Looks Like

Coach Tatum was blunt when the curtain came down. The roster needed to be locked in earlier. The inconsistency needed to be fixed. The hunger that appeared in the final fortnight, when the season was already gone, needed to be there from Round 1.

The front office heard it. The work is being done. The squad will be ready.

NBL27 is not about managing expectations. It's about meeting them.

Stronger. Louder. Together.

The Roster: Foundation First

The Hawks didn't wait around. The work started the moment the final buzzer sounded on NBL26.

The Hawks didn't have to rebuild. They had to retain, and they did.

Many NBL25 Championship core and who pushed through NBL26 were already signed and committed. The foundation was never in question. But the two signatures that mattered most have now landed, and the squad can move forward with full confidence.

Tyler Harvey re-signed. The heartbeat of this offence, the guy who hit the dagger in Game 2 of the NBL25 Grand Final and many more over his 193 Hawks games. He's back, and everything else builds from there.

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk re-signed too. The best one-on-one defender in the competition, the anchor of every defensive scheme Justin Tatum builds, a player who played all 33 games last season while drawing the opposition's toughest assignment night after night. He didn't flinch once. He won't start flinching now.

Sam Froling returns to full strength after the Achilles injury that cut his NBL25 Grand Final series short and kept him out half of NBL26. Now he's healthy, motivated, and with a point to prove. That's a dangerous combination.

Mason Peatling and Todd Blanchfield are both spending their off-season where they belong, in Wollongong, suiting up in NBL1 and staying sharp. Peatling, who earned the Coach's Award last season for the kind of selfless, unglamorous work that wins championships, returns ready to build on it. Blanchfield, who crossed 450 NBL games last season and still drills threes at a clip that makes defenders nervous, has unfinished business.

Daniel Grida, Johny Narkle, and Will Hickey complete the core Australian group. Grida celebrated his 150th game last season and took home both the Players' Player and Most Improved awards at the MVP Ball. Narkle announced himself as a genuine NBL talent during Indigenous Round and never looked back. Hickey delivered the triple-double, represented Australia, the man who delivered a performance across the NBL25 championship series that Matthew Dellavedova himself said deserved the Finals MVP.

The foundation is set. The culture is intact.

General Manager of Basketball Mat Campbell, who knows better than anyone what it takes to keep this club alive and competitive, is working alongside the coaching staff to complete the roster, scouting imports and key Australians around the world to fill the final spots.

When they arrive, this group will be ready for them.

The Enemy: Sydney Kings, NBL26 Champions

They won NBL26. They reclaimed the Adrian Hurley Cup and never gave us a sniff.

They're the benchmark. They're the target. Full stop.

We play Sydney four times this season. Every single one matters.

Sun 27 Sep: Qudos Bank Arena
Thu 22 Oct: WIN Entertainment Centre
Fri 4 Dec: WIN Entertainment Centre
Fri 25 Dec: Qudos Bank Arena (Christmas Day)

The Adrian Hurley Cup is coming back to Wollongong. Mark it down.

The Re-Loaded Rival: Melbourne United and Their Australian Legends

We beat them in five games to claim the NBL25 Championship. They spent all of NBL26 trying to get back to the top, eventually forcing their way into the conversation before the Hawks hurt their season with a statement 100-91 win at John Cain Arena in February knocking them out of the Top 4.

Now they've come back angrier. Better armed. Ready.

Melbourne United have secured Australian NBA legend Joe Ingles for NBL27, teaming him with fellow Boomer sharpshooter Chris Goulding to form one of the most dangerous perimeter pairings in the competition. Ingles brings more than a decade of NBA experience, an Olympic bronze medal, and a basketball IQ that makes every player around him better. Goulding is no stranger to the Sandpit, and he's never needed much invitation to hurt us. Now he has the perfect running mate.

That makes our three clashes against them essential viewing:

Sun 18 Oct: John Cain Arena
Sun 20 Dec: WIN Entertainment Centre
Sat 13 Feb: John Cain Arena

The December home game is circled in red. A packed-out Sandpit against Ingles, Goulding, and the team we beat for the championship. That's a statement game for this entire season.

The Road Gauntlet: 31 October to 14 November

Five games. Fifteen days. Every single one away from home.

Before the Hawks settle into their holiday fortress at home, they have to earn the right. The road gauntlet opens on Halloween night at RAC Arena for Rookie Round and doesn't let up until a second Perth trip on 14 November for Indigenous Round.

Perth. Cairns. Adelaide. Melbourne. Perth.

Last season, extended road runs broke the squad's rhythm and the Hawks never fully recovered. This year the preparation started earlier, the roster locked in sooner, and the lessons from NBL26 are baked into everything the coaching staff has built. This stretch won't define the season. How the Hawks come through it will.

The Holiday Fortress: 4 December to 6 January

Eight games in NSW in 34 days. Seven of them at home. One on Christmas Day up the highway at Qudos Bank Arena, then straight back to the Sandpit two days later.

This is where NBL27 gets decided. Seven home games. Seven chances to build ladder position, momentum, and the belief that this time the Hawks go all the way.

New Year's Eve at the WIN Entertainment Centre. It doesn't get better than that.

Holiday home games:

Fri 4 Dec: Sydney Kings
Thu 10 Dec: Tasmania JackJumpers
Sun 20 Dec: Melbourne United
Sun 27 Dec: NZ Breakers
Thu 31 Dec: SEM Phoenix
Sat 2 Jan: Cairns Taipans
Tue 6 Jan (Ignite Cup): Perth Wildcats

Rounds Worth Circling

Rookie Round: Sat 31 Oct, RAC Arena

The competition's next generation gets their showcase. The Hawks open the road gauntlet in one of the NBL's most hostile environments. No easing in.

Indigenous Round: Thu 19 Nov, WIN Entertainment Centre vs Adelaide 36ers

Last season the Hawks made history at home, fielding three Indigenous players simultaneously for the first time in NBL history. Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, Will Hickey, and Johny Narkle on the floor together. This year it's the 36ers with Bryce Cotton coming to town on one of the most significant nights on the Hawks calendar. The Sandpit needs to be full.

Pride Round: Fri 8 Jan, Spark Arena, Auckland

The Hawks take Pride Round across the Tasman. A night that stands for something beyond the scoreboard.

‍The Ignite Cup

Four fixtures. Real stakes.

Wed 11 Nov: SEM Phoenix - State Basketball Centre
Tue 6 Jan: Perth Wildcats - WIN Entertainment Centre
Wed 20 Jan: NZ Breakers - WIN Entertainment Centre
Wed 27 Jan: Tasmania JackJumpers - MyState Bank Arena

Two at home. Two away. With the campaign closing out across back-to-back home games against Perth and New Zealand before finishing in Hobart, genuine silverware is on the line before finals even arrive.

Be Part of the Comeback

Last season the Sandpit showed up even when the scoreboard didn't. Packed houses. Spontaneous ILLA-WARRA chants ringing out with twenty points on the clock. The kind of noise that tells every visiting team they're in someone else's building.

This season the team is giving Hawkheads something to roar about.

Don't watch it from the couch. Lock in your membership. Guarantee your seat. Be there for every moment of the ride back to the top.