Illawarra defeated the Sixers 118-111 in Port Lincoln on Thursday and then fell 95-83 in Adelaide on Saturday night.

Cooks believes his team's strength is their scoring but said they need a more consistent effort defensively.

"At the end of the day we've got to be a running team - we've got to get up and down," Cooks said.

"But for that to happen we've got to be able to rebound and we've got to get stops. We've got to focus on our defence so we can get some offence from that."

Cam Tragardh continued his impressive pre-season form with 27 points in Thursday night's win, and he was well supported by new signing Dusty Rychart who scored 26 points.

Olympian Glen Saville returned to action on Saturday, posting 12 points and five rebounds during his limited game time. Tragardh again top-scored in the loss with 20.

Meanwhile, versatile big man Larry Davidson returned to training yesterday after missing more than two weeks with a knee injury.

Cooks said he was happy to have Davidson back but said he would take a cautious approach, with the regular season the priority.

"We won't push him too much; this is still the pre-season," Cooks said.

"Obviously I'd like to get him out there sooner rather than later - it's down to almost two weeks before we start. But what's important is that we're ready to go come the 18th," he said, referring to the Hawks season-opening game against the Breakers on Thursday September 18 in New Zealand.

Illawarra finalise their pre-season with two games against the Gold Coast this week. They play the Blaze on Thursday before travelling to Rockhampton on Saturday.

- MICHAEL COX