He was the grand final series MVP when Wollongong won their only NBL crown in 2001 and is the club's only player to represent Australia in the high pressure cauldron of two Olympic Games.
Not surprisingly, when decorated Hawks forward Glen Saville speaks about handling finals pressure, he has his team-mates' full attention.
Moments after beating Townsville last Saturday and booking a grand final berth against Perth, Saville took it upon himself to give the Hawks an important insight of what to expect in the best-of-three series against the Wildcats.
MESSAGE BOARD: Show your support for the Hawks Full coverage of the Wollongong Hawks "My comment to the players at the end when we were in the huddle was that this (semi-final) series had a lot of intensity in it, but when you go to that next level in the grand final, it goes up even higher," the 34-year-old said.
"Every possession becomes more important, rebounding, and playing defence and looking after ball, everything just becomes so much more intense, and that's what we have to be ready for when when we go to Perth."
Wollongong have won just three of 15 road games in 2009-10.
With two games scheduled in Perth, there is no getting around the fact the Hawks have to win at least once away from home to claim the title.
"The pressure that will come for us is how we can play on the road," Saville said.
"Their crowd will be vocal and it's going to be an intense atmosphere, but that's nothing to be afraid of. When it's grand final time, it's about digging deep and having a little more respect for the situation you're in."
Despite winning two home semi-finals against the Crocs by an average of 15.1 points, Wollongong were trounced by 29 in game two at Townsville.
The Hawks failed to cope with the Crocs' physical defence and will be in for a long night in tomorrow's opening game if they wilt in similar fashion on the Wildcats' home court.
"We don't have the home court advantage in this series, so we have to find a way to win at least once on the road," Saville said.
"We know what we're going to be up against. It's a very vocal crowd and that team feeds off that, so any time we're not good with the ball and don't execute our plays - exactly the things that happened up in Townsville - they'll make us pay for it."
The Crocs tried the same push and shove tactics in last Saturday's deciding game of the semi-final series, but the plan backfired when the Hawks swarmed to the defence of guard Rhys Carter after he was shoved by Townsville centre Russell Hinder.
"They wanted to play just as physical as they did in Townsville, and we met that physicality," Saville said.
"That's finals basketball, that's the way it it. Hats off to them, because even though it was a double-figure lead for the majority of the second half, they played with a hardness about them. They made us execute and be better with the ball, and we have to be ready for something even tougher when we get over to Perth. We have to respect where we are and understand the intensity is going up another level."
If the Hawks can steal game one, they would be in a position to sweep the series on their home court in Tuesday's second game.
"If we could do well over there, it'd be awesome to come back here with one already in the bag," Saville said.
"We would love it. I can't even fathom what things would be like if we had an opportunity to win a championship on this court. I'm probably getting a little ahead of myself because getting a win over there in game one is going to be very difficult and that's our only focus right now. But we're there, we're in with a chance."
Wollongong and Perth were the most consistent teams during the season. Neither fell out of the top four at any stage and they ultimately finished 1-2 on the ladder.
Saville expects the Hawks' traditional fighting spirit to hold them in good stead against the Cats.
"I remember losing that grand final game two on a Saturday night in 2001, and we lost pretty badly, and then we had to back up the very next day on their home court again. We were down by eight with five minutes to go and we found a way to win," he said.
"I'll never forget that feeling. That series and the way we won is always a good positive reminder for me that anything's possible. We've already shown that this year by getting to where we are, because there's six other good teams who would love to be in our shoes.
"It's a grand final and it doesn't matter where you play and what the circumstances are. You never say never and the opportunity is there for us to have a crack at it."
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