It was a finish that defied pre-season predictions that the Hawks would struggle following the shock departures of former league MVP’s Kevin Lisch and Kirk Penney.

To go one better than a semi-final series defeat the season before had plenty eating humble pie, but Beveridge is well ware that it’s a long road back to a second shot at that elusive championship.

“When you take time off and you reflect and look at how close you are and how far we’ve come, yet how far we are away,” Beveridge said.

“It was a tremendous effort last year to get where we did, but I’m the last person to rest on my laurels. I look at what we need to get better at.”

It’s that mentality that is driving Beveridge’s recruitment strategy this off-season as he looks to fill the two import spots left vacant by the departures Marvelle Harris and Michael Holyfield. 

“You do your reviews and I thought our Australian contingent last year was probably one of our biggest strengths in how deep we were and how tight we were as a group,” Beveridge said.

“When you analyse it, what it came down to was that we didn’t get beaten by better teams as such, we were beaten by better individuals.

“I think that was the difference between us and Perth, when it came to crunch they flexed their muscle, their stars stood up.

“Some of the superstars in the league last year were amazing and I think we need to find some legitimate superstar studs that can get us over the line.”

The need for a superstar was never more apparent than in Perth’s charge to the title that was powered by a late-season cameo from former Utah Jazz guard Bryce Cotton.

Both Harris and Holyfield showed glimpses of their ability last season but lacked the consistency of other imports across the league, something Beveridge is keen to remedy.

With the club having taken up the option on former MVP Rotnei Clarke’s two-year deal, Beveridge said he will again be targeting a swingman and a big-man to play second fiddle to NBL first team centre AJ Ogilvy. 

“The biggest priority is our import three [swingman] and our back-up big [centre],” Beveridge said.

“I thought that was too inconsistent for us last season. We had a lot of circumstances around that but we need to have more maturity in those positions.”

Assistant coaches Matt Flinn and Eric Cooks have done the early scouting to produce a shortlist with Beveridge to travel to the US with general manager Kim Welch in the near future.

“We’re one of the lower resourced teams and that affects what type of talent you can get,” Beveridge said.

“Those bigger teams can go out and get the NBA calibre players where we often have to go for the best college players.

“A lot of the time they’re too young and not seasoned enough so this time we’re definitely targeting players who’ve been out of college played in the D League, played in Europe, they’re men.

“Rather than being a big fish in a small pond at college, these guys are proving it in men’s leagues around the world and I think they’re the type of players we need.”

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