Wollongong has re-written history following Friday’s agonising 61-59 defeat to the Taipans - breaking a 22-year club record for the worst home losing streak.
The Hawks’ seventh consecutive loss at the usually fortress-like WIN Entertainment Centre surpasses the previous record of six successive defeats in the 1988-1989 season.
Full coverage of the Hawks But captain Mat Campbell has dismissed the figures, vowing to soldier on through the season.
The first test will be on the road this weekend, with games against Cairns (Friday) and Townsville (Saturday).
‘‘From my point of view, I’ve been around long enough to know that it’s not about those kinds of stats and stuff, it’s more about making sure the group is functioning the way we’re meant to,’’ Campbell said.
‘‘At the moment we’re just not right there and we’ve been working our tails off for a month to try to rectify it and hopefully our performance on Friday showed signs that we’re starting to fix it.’’
Last-placed Wollongong has not won at home since October.
To add insult to injury, the unwelcome milestone - taking their home season record to one win from nine starts - was notched up on Friday the 13th.
Though the loss was overwhelmingly disappointing, Campbell admitted the Hawks’ performance was their strongest for some time.
‘‘We put ourselves in a position to win the game at the start of that third quarter and then went through that drought where I think Cairns scored 18 points to zero,’’ he said.
‘‘To be able to keep a team to 60 points is great, because realistically that’s a winning margin.
‘‘Defensively, we were solid and we did turn it around after that first quarter - they are all positives that we can take into next week.
‘‘It’s just our offensive end - if we can score more than 60 points, we can give ourselves a chance to win some games.’’
Campbell said backing up against Cairns had its advantages.
‘‘I think we’re fairly suited to Cairns and Townsville,’’ he said.
‘‘Even our loss to Townsville recently, we were strong defensively - it’s just the offensive end that we are struggling with.
‘‘Hopefully we can just go out and play loosely and get a victory up north in Queensland.
‘‘You don’t have the prying eyes of the media or family and friends in the stands to judge you and that should certainly take some pressure off our guys.’’
Wollongong’s next home game is against the Melbourne Tigers on January 27.
By contrast, the club’s best consecutive winning streak is 16 games, set in 1987, seconded by 10 victories on the trot between 2010 and 2011
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