The Hawks have lost their two meetings with the Dragons this season by an average of 26.5 points, including Wednesday's 34-point walloping.

Only their staunchest fans will give them any chance of getting near the NBA leaders tonight.

Compounding Wollongong's woes is the likely loss of bustling forward Anthony Petrie (calf injury) for a second straight game.

An aggressive Dragons side overwhelmed the Hawks with their physicality on Wednesday and are sure to dish up more of the same tonight.

But while some fans felt Wollongong were unfairly bashed out of the game, Cooks didn't see it that way.

"(Dragons coach) Brian's (Goorjian) teams always play like that and I've got no problem with the way the game was called, but we have to be ready for that and come out with the right mindset and be aggressive at both ends of the court," he said.

"We went into the game, for whatever reason, doubting we could beat that team, and we have to find a way to bounce back.

"They bumped our cutters all night and by the end our guys looked like they were tired of cutting. The Dragons were up in the passing lanes denying the ball real hard and we didn't cope with it.

"I imagine it's going to be the same for this game and we can't shy away from it.

"We have to stay focused and match their physicality and keep believing in ourselves and each other.

"We have to bump them every time they cut through the lane and stay confident," he said.

Now eighth, the Hawks have an uphill fight to make the top six.

They trained on Thursday and flew to Melbourne yesterday.

"We had a good, hard hit-out, as we should after a display like (Wednesday night)," Cooks said.

"We watched the game video and talked long and hard about what we have to do and everyone seemed to buy into it.

"We've gotta have more confidence in our shooting and better decision-making."

Cooks was considering shaking up his starting five and will make a final decision this morning.

He said Petrie still had an outside chance of recovering in time.

"We missed him the other night because he brings a lot of physicality to the way we play," Cooks said.

"Having him on board will go a long way towards competing with these guys."

The Dragons will be without import guard Cortez Groves.