Wollongong were down by three midway through the final quarter before the Cats regained momentum and hit all the big shots down the stretch.

The Hawks quickly put the loss behind them and coach Gordie McLeod has fine-tuned a couple of key areas for game two.

"It's just little adjustments at this time of year. It's a series and it's about making some adjustments along the way which you feel can be advantageous," McLeod said.

"We can't come in and play them the same way we played before. We have to look at ways where we feel we can get an edge.

"It's about consistency ... We need the sum of all our players coming in and playing to the level we know they're capable of.

"If we get that we can compete with anyone and (we've) proven we can beat anyone in the league.

"It's no secret. That's our mantra, that's what we need to do."

McLeod said: "Our success has also come from having a game plan and rigidly sticking to that. The other thing is just taking care of the effort areas of the game. We've been a working team and that's what we have to get done if we want to have success."

Wollongong's offence was out of sync for long stretches of game one, with turnovers (18) and poor shooting (36 per cent) prominent.

The Wildcats' notoriously physical defence was the key to victory and the Hawks are ready for similar tactics tonight.

"They're one of the better defensive teams in the league and they're good at disrupting and making it tough for the opposition," McLeod said. "That's why they finished on top. They've got depth and experience and they know that getting it done at the defensive end of the floor is a big factor in setting the table for everything else that comes."