It came in response to questions from fans as to why Cody Ellis, a solid contributor for the past two play-off seasons for the club, has been stuck on the pine for five straight games. Not getting on the floor in a 30-point blowout win over Brisbane was particularly baffling. 

To his credit Ellis has handled it with class, in an off-contract season no less, and there’s plenty of conjecture that the decision to bench him was made over coach Rob Beveridge’s head.

Spencely addressed the suggestions on Sunday, tweeting in response to fans:

“...funny how this gets started, we had a number of strategies in preseason one to start Rot [Rotnei Clarke], other was to get more consistent minutes and longer stints to starters. At 0-3 coaches put those in place, since then gone 4-2 so continuing, nothing 4ever things always change in ball.”

Spenceley also directly addressed the Brisbane match, tweeting:

“...BNE was the first turn around game for team, starters and new imports gel’d, lots of chemistry/assists. So Bevo played starters right up to the end. Rest of the games have been down to the wire, especially last night! Fingers crossed for Thursday to beat kings, need it!”

Whether the explanation washes with Hawks fans remains to be seen.