Glen Saville lends his experience to the Hawks’ season. KEN ROBERTSON
BASKETBALL
He doesn’t have a ‘‘c’’ next to his name on the scoresheet, but decorated Wollongong Hawks forward Glen Saville isn’t about to pass the buck in the leadership department.
The Hawks have turned heads around the league with their perfect 3-0 start to the season and will take plenty of confidence into Sunday’s road duel with Adelaide.
Saville has been instrumental in all three wins and is averaging 11 points, six rebounds and two assists per game.
The two-time Olympian was tipped by most Hawks followers to take over the captaincy in 2012-13 after fellow club legend Mat Campbell retired at the end of last season.
But with his 19th season almost certain to be his last, Saville thought 30-year-old forward Oscar Forman was Wollongong’s standout candidate to fill the skipper’s vacancy.
Adelaide-born Forman hasn’t lost a game as captain and would love to lead the Hawks to victory in his home town against his original club.
While Saville believes Forman is excelling as captain, the 36-year-old will provide support and advice whenever needed.
‘‘Whether I’m captain or not, my role is no different in that sense,’’ Saville said.
‘‘If we’re getting challenged by [coach] Gordie [McLeod] about our leadership, I don’t just stare at Ossie and say ‘that’s his problem’. I’m involved in that as well and [centre] Larry [Davidson] is involved in that.
‘‘I’m more than happy with not being captain. There’s no power trips or anything like that for me. I haven’t been captain for a long time. I think the last time was back in about 2001 when Mat and I were co-captains and we won the championship.
‘‘Ossie’s really embraced being captain. He’s relishing the opportunity. I’d spoken to him in the pre-season and told him he’d be a good candidate to do it.
‘‘It wasn’t about me thinking ‘I don’t want to do it because I don’t want the responsibility’. It’s nothing like that. It’s a fair chance it could be my last season and I just want to concentrate on doing on what I’ve been doing for a number of years, and that’s going about my business without being the captain.’’
Despite his years, Saville remains one of the league’s top small forwards.
Talk of a title is a little premature less than four weeks into the 28-game season, but the 2001 finals MVP believes the Hawks should only get better as off-season recruits Adris Deleon, Auryn MacMillan and Lance Hurdle get their heads around McLeod’s multifaceted offence.