Welch insisted McLeod was always his first choice to lead the rebuilding Hawks if and when the club survived its three-month voluntary administration period.

The Hawks were give the green light by the club’s creditors to re-open their doors on Tuesday and know they have to act fast to assemble a team before the October tip-off of the 2015-16 NBL season.

Tremendously respected by Wollongong fans, McLeod was a star player with the Hawks for nine seasons and has coached the team since 2009.

‘‘We weren’t in a position to formally offer contracts to anyone during the VA time frame, but Gordie is absolutely a priority,’’ Welch said on Wednesday morning.

‘‘I’ve sat down with two of the three coaches [assistants Eric Cooks and Matt Flinn] today and I’ll sit down with the last one [McLeod] this afternoon. That’s been the priority through this whole process, to get the coaches back on board and build the roster from there. Priority one is coaches and priority two is players. By the end of today I would’ve sat down with each coach individually and put offers to them.’’

Piecing a playing roster together might be more challenging than usual for the Hawks, given that the club has given rivals a head start in the recruiting process.

‘‘I’ve got a meeting with a player agent to commence discussions about getting some of the current roster guys back on board, so it’s basically full steam ahead,’’ Welch said.

‘‘Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can start announcing some signings.’’

Welch addressed another contentious topic for Hawks fans - the prospect of Wollongong playing home games in Canberra.

‘‘If we get 3000-plus fans turning up to every game at the WEC [WIN Entertainment Centre], then there’d be no reason to look elsewhere, so the fans can vote with their feet on that issue,’’ he said.

‘‘The [VA] process that we’ve just been through and the fact we’re already behind the eight-ball in preparing for a season, [moving games is] not something we’re looking at right now. We’re already behind most clubs in where we are with preparation, so the focus is just getting a season and a team up and running.’’

However, he didn’t rule out taking games out of Wollongong in seasons ahead.

‘‘In my role as general manager it’s my responsibility to go out and find different avenues of revenue for the club,’’ Welch said.

‘‘We want to explore a range on avenues that can potentially generate additional revenue for the club. If Canberra’s one of those, then it will be explored.’’