Hawks Men’s Head Coach – Charles Nix

Well it is do or die time now. Saturday night was definitely not the result that we wanted or planned for but the finals are a completely different set of circumstances than the regular season. As the stakes get higher the intensity increases, the effort increases, the desperation increases, the importance of every individual contest increases. Any little error that you could have gotten away with during the year will be exposed.

Because we played at a regular season level, and didn’t lift the extra couple of percentage points, we got exposed and lost a vital game. Fortunately for us we did the work during the season and now have a chance to rectify by winning tonight so that we are still in the hunt tomorrow. Mandurah are a very well drilled and disciplined team that play to their strengths. We have to lift the defensive intensity tonight to get them out of their system and be disciplined enough offensively to make them work hard on defence. Allowing them to score 107 points again will not get the job done.

Expect to see a different team on the floor tonight. We have had our backs against the wall on several occasions this season and come through the other side on the right side of the ledger; this is another opportunity to do this. We have home court advantage and the best fans in the league to help us through, but more importantly the players have heart and will fight until the end. We will execute tonight, we will bring the intensity, we will win the one on one battle’s, and we will be desperate with our backs against the wall.

I look forward to seeing our amazing fans in the stands. Be loud and be proud. 

 

Hawks Men’s Team Captain – Ben Purser

Last week’s game was a disappointing beginning to our 2013 finals campaign, as we went down to the Mandurah Magic (107-96) in game one of this best of three series. The Magic came out of the blocks full of confidence and had us on the back foot from the opening tip. In the first quarter they shot the lights out, scoring 35 points including 4/6 from the 3-point line. They also forced us to commit a staggering 8 turnovers, in what was one of our poorest first quarter showings for the season.

From there, we managed to regroup a little, refocusing our efforts at the defensive end. Unfortunately for us this wasn’t enough, as MVP candidate Taylor Mullenax (38pts, 9rbds) led the way for the Magic with strong support from stalwart, Andrew Bowman (19pts, 10rbds) and US import, Taylor Land (16pts, 10asts). On our side, AJ Majstrovich (37pts, 13rbs) and Michael Lay (21pts, 5stls) put in strong performances but couldn’t quite carry the team to victory.

This weekend is ‘do or die’ for the Hawks as we put our season on the line. To win two games we must step up defensively, as this is what we have prided ourselves on all year. We know last weeks effort simply wasn’t good enough and will need to improve if we’re to advance to the next round of the playoffs. I encourage all Hawks fans to get down to the game Friday night and help us make the most of the home court advantage we earned during the regular season. The challenge is there for us and I’m excited to see how we will respond with our backs against the wall.