Rumours of a Wollongong Hawks revival became reality yesterday, with the club set to apply to play in the NewNBL.News that the NBL foundation franchise might yet survive came a day after office staff shut down operations at Hawks headquarters.Long-standing Wollongong captain Mat Campbell is spearheading the bold rescue plan, which is modelled on the Cairns Taipans' promising community-based ownership package."I've spent many hours over the past couple of weeks with some good people and we are very impressed with the Cairns model for moving forward," he said.The NewNBL requires participating clubs to provide a $1 million bank guarantee and have an additional $500,000 in working capital.The Taipans were turned over to liquidators during the season after experiencing extreme financial difficulty.Fearing they would have no club to support next season, Cairns fans rallied, buying memberships at $5000 apiece and raising more than $750,000.The Taipans remain confident of securing a third party to put up the million-dollar bank guarantee.The Hawks' outgoing ownership group decided against lodging a bid for inclusion in the restructured competition, and almost 6000 people attended last Friday's season-ending game against Adelaide at WIN Entertainment Centre in the belief it was the club's final home appearance.But with the February 27 closing date for applications fast approaching, Wollongong may yet have a professional basketball team to follow."It's very good news," Basketball Australia chief executive Scott Derwin said."It was disappointing a few weeks ago when the Hawks originally said they wouldn't be applying, but it's a foundation club and they've battled hard for a number of years. It'd be great to see them playing in the new competition."Campbell urged the community to throw its weight behind the Hawks' last-ditch attempt to stay alive."I won't let $5 million of the Illawarra's economy drop through the net - the Hawks will play again," he said."We had over 5000 fans at the last game and it's up to me and all of us to save the NBL's longest participating team."I want to applaud the community for all they have done in the past and make sure the Hawks are here for many years to come."A website (www.savethehawks.com) was launched on Thursday night.