Illawarra have had to do without regular point-guard Rhys Martin so far this season while Cody Ellis and Tyson Demos have both missed the past two games through injury.

With the roster stretched, the Hawks five-man bench played a combined 87 minutes and produced 52 points and 20 rebounds against Townsville on Saturday .

Tim Coenraad was the leading sixth man with 12 points and five rebounds while Larry Davidson had nine points and pulled down nine boards in his best performance of the season.

Jarrad Weeks produced one of the highlight reel dunks of the season in his eight points while development players Luke Jamieson and Tony Tolovae both enjoyed the longest on-court stints of their NBL careers.

“When I took Timmy out of the starting five it was actually a promotion,” Beveridge said.

“We promoted him to the bench because we had to many scorers in that group.

“That’s given us a lot more balance there and obviously [Jarrad] Weeks’ energy and everything we’re doing...we’re starting to click. 

“I’m still trying to work out the team myself but we’re starting to get a good balance there.

"We're still fighting through these injuries.

“These eight guys plus the two DP’s [Tolovae and Jamieson] they're buying into our system of playing the pressure defence. It's getting on the glass, winning the possession game and they're having fun doing it.”