Photo: KIRK GILMOUR
It's early days yet but the signs are all good for the Wollongong Hawks a month out from the NBL season.
The Hawks boosted their pre-season record to a perfect 5-0 with Sunday's 90-66 shellacking of the Melbourne Tigers.
Wollongong's win came on the heels of Friday night's 67-54 defeat of the Tigers in a trial at Kilsyth.
Forward Oscar Forman averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two wins, Rhys Martin averaged nine points, while Larry Davidson had 13 points in each game and Tyson Demos scored 18 in Sunday's impressive triumph.
"It was a good, positive weekend," Hawks coach Gordie McLeod said.
"Obviously the Tigers have a lot of new players and new coaching staff, so they're sort of a completely new group, whereas we had our core nucleus together.
"What was pleasing for us was that we were able to execute the things we've been working on. The other positive was that we got good contributions from all players and we were able to get a lot of players involved.
"It was pleasing to see that the work guys have put in so far is showing. Obviously the challenge for us is to keep getting better, but there's certainly some signs that we're making positive improvement."
The Hawks' other pre-season victims include the Sydney Kings and a pair of American college teams.
Next Monday they leave for a week-long tour of New Zealand for three trials against the Breakers.
Wollongong take on the two-time reigning champions at Christchurch (September 11), Dunedin (September 13) and Hamilton (September 15).
Recently signed import Lance Hurdle is set to make his Hawks debut against the Breakers, while fellow import Adris Deleon is an outside chance of arriving in time to make the trip across the Tasman for his first appearance in Wollongong colours.
Forward Dave Gruber is also expected to take on the Breakers after a minor back ailment kept him out of the Tigers games.
Off-season rookie recruit Auryn MacMillan showed flashes of promise against Melbourne and should improve as he learns his team's offensive and defensive sets.
"Auryn has a long way to come with regards to getting up to speed with our system, so will Lance and Adris," McLeod said.
"We had that team cohesiveness against Melbourne you can only have when you've kept a core group together. We got good minutes from all guys.
"With (former captain) Mat Campbell retiring (last season), that load has to be shifted across the group. That's just something we have to come to terms with."
The Hawks tip off their 2012-13 NBL campaign on October 5 against the Sydney Kings at WIN Entertainment Centre.