Hawks face tough holiday game slate

By Tim Keeble
Updated November 5 2012 - 11:44pm, first published December 6 2009 - 10:11am
Wollongong's Dave Gruber and Adelaide's David Cooper go for the ball at the WEC last month. Gruber says the Hawks have a tough mid-season schedule ahead.
Wollongong's Dave Gruber and Adelaide's David Cooper go for the ball at the WEC last month. Gruber says the Hawks have a tough mid-season schedule ahead.

The Wollongong Hawks are highly wary of being swept up in the warm, fuzzy annual Christmas vibe.Aside from a tough weights session on Saturday, the Hawks took most of the weekend off after last Thursday's impressive 93-91 road triumph over the more fancied New Zealand Breakers.Sharing first place with Perth, Wollongong (8-5) square off with the Wildcats in a top-of-the-table showdown on Saturday night at WIN Entertainment Centre.

  • Full coverage of the Wollongong Hawks "With all the energy and pressure they bring, we'll really have to step another notch from last week's game and stay mentally focused," Hawks forward Dave Gruber said.After the Wildcats, the Hawks face three straight away games against Cairns (December 18), Gold Coast (Dec 20) and Melbourne (Dec 26) before meeting Adelaide (Dec 31, home), Perth (Jan 2, away), New Zealand (Jan 6, home) and Melbourne (Jan 8, away)."That few weeks prior to Christmas and the early part of the New Year can really make or break a season," the 28-year-old Gruber said."There's all kinds of distractions and it's a time of year that most people are relaxing, but it's really important that we keep our minds on the job and make sure we train hard and get ourselves ready to play."Christmas time has derailed many a team's campaign in the 12 seasons since the NBL shifted from a winter to a summer competition."Going into that middle part of the season, I've seen teams have a bit of a lull," Wollongong captain Mat Campbell told the Mercury last month."Christmas is around the corner and it's really a time you have to switch on."The Hawks can reclaim the outright lead with a win over the Cats, and ensure themselves of a very tidy 9-5 record halfway through the 28-game schedule.Adelaide had hoped to form a three-way tie for top spot, but Saturday night's surprise home loss to struggling Melbourne dropped the 36ers to fourth.Gold Coast climbed into third after Friday's lucky 69-68 escape against Cairns.The Hawks are confident of avenging a seven-point road loss to the Cats on October 31."We're still moving forward and striving to get better and we know we've got some work to do, but if we can be on top halfway through the season, I can't think of a better place to be," Gruber said."As a team, we always look at the big picture. We're in a four-game series with every team and right now we're tied 1-1 with Perth and we need to get the upper hand. "Rather than just look at the season and hope you finish in the top four, it's more about breaking it down and trying to win each series. If we can come out on top in each series, we should be able to secure a spot fairly high up the ladder."Gruber had his best game of the season in the win over the Breakers, scoring 16 points off the bench and hitting several key baskets in crunch time.Wollongong's backups played a huge role in the victory, outscoring the home side's bench 32-20."I was happy with how I finished the game, but I was more happy for the bench as a whole because we all got out there and gave the team a lift," the University of Northern Iowa graduate said. "It was a very big win on the road for us."
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