But the Crocs are convinced they found a chink in Wollongong's armour when they beat the Hawks 73-59 in Townsville late last month.

Gleeson (right) readjusted his side's defence after three straight losses to Wollongong and they forced their opponents into a season-high 28 turnovers.

The Crocs are confident of stealing the Hawks' thunder tomorrow and sweeping the best-of-three semi-final series with a home win over Wollongong in game two.

"The Hawks are definitely under more pressure than us, no question," Gleeson said.

"They jumped up to second after some results went their way and they got the home court advantage. They were handed that spot because of the splits they had on us and Gold Coast, so it's up to them to do what they're expected to do and hold serve on their home court."

The Hawks seemingly had the wood on the Crocs after dominating three games by an average winning margin of 17.7 points.

But Townsville avoided a whitewash with the 14-point triumph over Wollongong in round 17 and Gleeson said regular season results meant nothing.

"It's the play-offs, it's a whole new season starting up," he said.

"When we played Wollongong twice in two days a few weeks ago, we finished the first game real strong and would've got over the top of them if the game had gone another five minutes.

"In the second game, we turned the intensity up and did a good job of locking down their interior game. That game was the catalyst for our improvement over the last part of the year."