Perry Lakes Hawks coach Dion Dagostino says the heartbreak of a second grand final defeat in three years is a step closer to an eventual premiership rather than another perceived failure.

Two years after a grand final loss at the hand of Lakeside Lightning 85-77, the Hawks have again fallen one step short of the men’s State Basketball League title.

Speaking after the Hawks 88-83 loss to the Wanneroo Wolves in the 2011 championship decider, Dagostino said his squad is still one of the youngest in the competition and will continue to learn and improve.

“They guys will get older, bigger and stronger, we’ll be able to compete with these guys physically. They are a pretty strong team (Wanneroo), tough to defend against,” he said.

“We just need to get better at it.

The development Dagostino mentioned well noted in a grand final they went into notably undersized.

“It was a physical game we were undersized. Look we didn’t deserve to win it we gave it away on things we knew.”

One of the shining lights in 2011 for the Hawks was the performance of potential competition MVP Anthony Lee, who again led the Hawks in the grand final defeat with 27 points.

But Dagostino also gave praise to the supposed lesser import Andy Burns.

“Lee has been outstanding and Burns has done a job for us all year," he said.

“We’ll continue with our imports and see if we can get the same guys back and the other guys will get better.”

Article by Ben Cameron at the WA Basketball Centre
Photo by Travis Hayto

Follow the SBL on Facebook