Im excited about this years Hawks team, I think they will overachieve like usual and surprise many other teams. I think they play the best team basketball and can make the playoffs.

The Hawks are the real smokies of the competition. On paper they look like they would get smashed across most positions, but like a Six Sigma Blackbelt, the Red Fox always seems to get just that little bit more out of the team than the capacity of the players.

Every year people say this about the hawks, they have every chance like the rest ove the other 7 teams

The write-up talks about the significant losses from the team, including one of leadership. Makes it out to be a horror off-season.

Ins: Rotnei Clarke, Durrell Summers, Shane Harris-Tunks.

Outs: Adris De Leon, Lance Hurdle, Auryn Macmillan, Glen Saville, Mirko Djeric, Daniel Jackson, Malcolm Grant.

I liked Macmillan and Djeric, but they weren't huge upgrades over SHT and Cooks in the context of this team as spot minutes off the bench. Jacko was barely played and for meagre returns (his value is in team chemistry) and Grant was probably more trouble than he was worth.

That leaves Saville (big loss in defense, rebounds, intangibles), Hurdle (wasn't playing for much of the season, including when they made a decent go of the play-offs) and Deleon (solo scorer).

They're all good players and I would've been more concerned if they hadn't grabbed the imports they had. We've seen enough of Clarke now to see what he can do and from all accounts Summers is very capable at game time. They look like upgrades on Deleon and Hurdle to me, Summers maybe covering some of the loss of Sav too.

Had the Hawks kept Djeric and Auryn, then grabbed these imports, would the off-season have been considered so poor?

I guess they go 8 deep where a team like Adelaide go 9. Whether that will prove problematic in a league adjusting to foul troubles remains to be seen.

It's hard to judge them on the Blitz given the absence of someone like Martin.

Fair enough, I dont think it was a horror off season but there could have been more acquisitions considering the players that are gone. We all know how hard it is to predict what will happen year to year in this league and its just my opinion. Thanks for the thoughts and feedback.

Daniel Attias.....more acquisitions considering the players gone? Can you please tell us who you think they should have acquired?

I for one, never write off a Hawks team coached by Geordie...he always has his team in games no matter the talent level of that team.

Isaac is spot on.

3 of the losses were lost mid last season, 2 of the other losses were temporary replacements for those losses.

Positionally they've gone

Saville/Coenraad to Summers

Hurdle/Grant to Clarke

Adris to Martin

Macmillan to Harris Tunks

Djeric to Cooks* (assuming he's the 10th)

Lost Jackson from the bench

Added Coenraad to the bench role after starting half of last season.

Sav's leadership & playmaking will be hard for them to replace, but looks like Summers can score.

Going off the stats so far Clarke is a considerable upgrade over Hurdle, and monumental over Grant.

Depsite Adris' ability to be a game winner, i dont think any coach in the NBL will take him over Martin.

Martin was the chief play maker last year, and was in career form. Some say he was the best Australian PG in the NBL at the time of his injury. Assuming he can return to form, his combination with Clarke could be lethal.

Macmillan is a tough loss, but Harris Tunks is a big body. Is he a banger or finesse?

Djeric looked promising, would have been a great 10th man.

Tornado, I cant tell you as I dont have a recruitment team to scout players but I did hear straight from Gordies mouth that the team didnt recruit enough to cover the losses for the team. I take his opinion seriously and this certainly doesnt mean that the Hawks are destined to lose. Early days yet and thats why my preview is just my opinion.

Depth is always a big part of winning games and weve all seen the foul counts get ridiculously high this pre season so you need to put good players on the court when foul trouble occurs not to mention injuries. Luckily for Wollongong they have a smart coach and always seem to find a way to compete.

The article was overly negative.

They were missing Rhys Martin and Summers in the Blitz, so I don't read much into their poor results. If Summers and Clarke are as good as their pre seasons suggest, then the Hawks will be competitive every night. An injury to Davidson would kill them, but then so would an injury to Ogilvy at Sydney, Markovic in Townsville, Wilson in Cairns or Johnson for the Breakers.