BASKETBALL
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A three-game losing streak has Hawks captain Oscar Forman demanding a better defensive effort when his side takes on hosts Townsville this Friday.
Wollongong gave up 106 points to the New Zealand Breakers last Thursday and made some lacklustre decisions on defence in Sunday's loss to the Tigers.
The defensive lapse coincided with a disappointing run of results for the Hawks and Forman earmarked Friday's away trip as the place to turn it around.
"We have had a few losses and it has got to stop somewhere," he said.
"We have to make sure we stop it with out defence and our rebounding, they have to be emphasis of ours.
"Our offensive execution wasn't great [against the Tigers] but our defensive execution was even worse, so that is something we need to make sure we come strong with for Townsville on Friday night."
Despite an impressive shooting performance against the Tigers, Forman wouldn't allow himself to escape the blame for the Hawks' current form.
"It is always good to hit shots but the thing I have to make sure of is getting some rebounds," he said.
"I only got four rebounds on the weekend and I need to be up to seven, eight, nine. I need to pick that up and sneak a few on the offensive glass and make sure we can get some quick easy points on that."
He will have the chance to atone against a Crocodiles outfit which hasn't won since early December.
But the Crocs' eight-game winless run didn't hold any significance in the eyes of Forman.
"There is only eight teams and everyone is good - we showed that by beating Perth a couple of weeks ago," Forman said.
"The fact that we lost a couple of close games we should have won is tough.
"It really puts our season under the pump but we still have Townsville three times," he said.
"We have beaten them in the only game that we have played them so we need to make sure we come out strong in that game, especially up in Townsville where they are calling for more crowd support.
"We only had 1800 people to our game which is pretty average. They had 4000 at their last [game] and called for crowd support and they got it.
"It is great to see people supporting them up there but we need to make sure we can work against a strong crowd and get it done."