If the players and staff of the Ringwood Hawks believe in signs, they got a big one in warm ups on Saturday night that they were in for a weekend to forget.

The Hawks hosted the Hobart Huskies and were going in to the game without veteran leader Matt Snow, leaving them a little thin with bench experience. As both teams were warming up for the game, in form Centre Trevor Latham went down and limped to the bench. Somehow Latham had hyper extended he knee and was ruled out of the contest.

The loss of the two key players proved to be a big hurdle as the Hawks struggled with the Huskies who shot well from the perimeter and rebounded well. Some foul trouble also added to the Hawks issues and despite a great performance from Matt Fennell. they eventually fell by 19 points.

There was no time to lick their wounds though as on Sunday the Hawks had to head to Diamond Valley and face the Eagles. The Hawks bought in developing youth league Centre Yuot Gai to cover Latham and the Hawks looked good early. Fennell was again working hard and keeping his team in the game but the Hawks simply could not make a perimeter shot. Known as a good three point shooting team, the Hawks shot a horrible 3 from 25 and need look no further for a reason for the 7 point loss.

“We also missed 8 foul shots.” Assistant Coach Damien Smith said post game.

“The guys were probably tired but we just could not make shots when we needed too. The guys tried very hard but we just couldn’t get over the line.”

The two losses have the Hawks now at just 2 wins from their 6 games and will again have to back up for another two games next weekend without Snow and Latham in uniform. The Hawks will host the Waverley Falcons on Saturday night at the Rings and then head to MSAC on Mother’s Day to face the Melbourne Tigers. Two wins will put the Hawks season back on track.