Wollongong Hawks are resigned to being without their tallest player for Friday's NBL season-opener against Perth at WIN Entertainment Centre.Hawks coach Gordie McLeod was hoping to have his 10-man roster available to tangle with the Wildcats, but 211cm Tim Behrendorff will be sidelined with a knee injury."He won't be playing," McLeod said yesterday. "He's probably on track to where (club medical staff) expected, but in Tim's mind he had that passion to try and be there for the first game."One of four off-season signings for the Hawks, Behrendorff dislocated his kneecap a month ago at training and was forced to sit out the last five preseason games.The former Cairns and New Zealand back-up centre is also in doubt for next week's round-two road clash with the Gold Coast Blaze."We'll just see how he is with regards to what he can do, but basically they say when he gets the strength back in his knee and he can get through practice (he can play)," McLeod said."Today we tried to take him to another level with slides and just a little more than what he's been doing. He's off the straight-line stuff and now we're trying to get a little movement and strength in the knee. It's not where it needs to be, so we just have to keep working without him."We've had to go through the preseason without him, so I guess one of the exciting things for us is that if we can keep being competitive and play the way we have been, then obviously when he comes back there's an opportunity to take our team to another level."Perth will have a height advantage on Friday. The Cats boast a skyscraping frontline of 216cm Luke Schenscher, 213cm Paul Rogers, 203cm Shawn Redhage, 203cm Jesse Wagstaff and 202cm Martin Cattalini."The guys have done a really good job playing a little undersized, and obviously that's going to be the challenge against a big team like Perth," McLeod said. "They can go real big with Rogers and Schenscher, and there's others like Redhage, Wagstaff and Cattalini ... they're a big team."The Hawks were a cut above rivals for a large majority of the preseason, compiling a 6-1 win-loss record and taking out the Top End Challenge in Darwin."Now we have to get the game-day mode on for everyone," McLeod said."We're looking to take our preseason form and step it up another notch as the season goes on. You need to get better week by week and it's all about Perth right now."That's our whole focus. As the season goes there's going to be a four-game series against every team. "This is game one of a four-game series against Perth and that's all that matters."