Redhage all the rage in Hawks clash

By Tim Keeble
Updated November 5 2012 - 6:14pm, first published October 9 2008 - 10:31am

The Wollongong Hawks will try to build a five-man cage around dynamic Perth Wildcats forward Shawn Redhage in tonight's duel at WIN Entertainment Centre.A perennial NBL MVP frontrunner, Redhage has been typically productive in his team's six games, averaging 20 points, nine rebounds and almost four assists.He burned the Hawks with 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists in Perth's 13-point win on October 1 and was outstanding with 31 (points), 11 (rebounds) and four (assists) in the Cats' 105-101 upset of Melbourne on Wednesday.Perth (3-3) boast a deep offensive arsenal, but the Hawks (1-3) will go a long way toward winning their second game of the season if they minimise Redhage's impact."At the moment he's in that mentality where he feels like he can score 50 on any team," Wollongong coach Eric Cooks said."That's how he came out against us last time. Even if we were in his face, he still put it up and shot 75 per cent for the game, so we know he's very capable of scoring."Cooks expected the Cats to be on a high after beating the Tigers."You'd think they'll come up here fairly confident," he said."(Pete) Crawford's shooting the ball well and Redhage is getting his, and they're playing good ball at the moment. They proved they've still got enough talent to beat anybody."We're definitely going to have to be on the ball defensively because they're getting up and down the floor and scoring a lot of points. Last time we played them they got away to that early start in the first quarter and broke away, so we've got to do a better job on Redhage and limit (Darnell) Hinson's open looks."Cooks trialled various line-ups at training during the week and could change his starting five after last week's heavy home loss to the South Dragons."We don't know for sure. It's a possibility," he said."We have looked at quite a few different line-ups to see how certain players play together and see if we've got that communication with different groups. We'll discuss it and make a definite decision."The Hawks will take on the Wildcats in Perth next Wednesday - the third meeting between the teams in 15 days.

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