Hawks to stand by injured Tywain McKee

By Tim Keeble
Updated November 5 2012 - 11:50pm, first published January 7 2010 - 10:16am
Tywain McKee is out for the rest of the season with two stress fractures in his back.
Tywain McKee is out for the rest of the season with two stress fractures in his back.

The Wollongong Hawks are committed to nursing injured guard Tywain McKee back to full health.Ruled out for the remainder of the season with two stress fractures in his lower back, McKee is expected to stay in Wollongong in the off-season and undergo an extensive rehabilitation process.The Coppin State University graduate has been instrumental in the Hawks' quest for NBL supremacy and the club is keen to foster a good relationship with the skilful playmaker and re-sign him for the 2010-11 season.

  • Full coverage of the Wollongong Hawks "Tywain is a great talent and we want to make sure he receives the best medical attention and is able to recover fully," Wollongong coach Gordie McLeod said."There's no chance Ty will be back this season, so it's about getting him on the road to recovery so he can play down the track."It's definitely a big loss for the club, no doubt about it. But this is professional sports and it's the game we play. Injuries happen and you just have to work through the adversity and continue to move forward as a team."McKee was on the Wollongong bench when the Hawks came from behind to beat New Zealand 83-78 on Wednesday night.The 23-year-old said he was devastated by the news and would work hard to overcome his injury.McKee's replacement Luke Martin debuted for the Hawks against the Breakers and will remain with the club until the end of the season.McLeod said McKee's warm personality endeared him to his coaches and team-mates as much as his playing ability."It's a killer blow for Ty and it's a setback for the club, because Ty brought some characteristics that really complemented the rest of the group," he said."The disappointing thing is that Ty was such a fantastic team person and really helped everyone. The sad thing is that we don't have that now, but that responsibility falls to the other guys and we have to spread Ty's load across the rest of the group."McKee's injury is similar to the one which almost ended Australian cricketing great Dennis Lillee's career."We've sorted out what the problem is and now we'll be putting some things in place to get Ty on the way to recovery, and a big part of that to start with is that he must rest," McLeod said."It's a hot spot and he needs to be very careful that he does all the right things. The medical support group will be on top of that and we'll put a program in place."It's a three-to-five-month program. It's eight to 12 weeks of nothing and then there's two to three months of rehab, so there's a lot of hard work in front."McLeod is confident the well-travelled Martin will be a valuable addition."It was important to bring in someone who can carry the ball," he said."The other thing with Luke is that he'd done some pre-season work with us and he played with the Wellington Saints when I coached them, so he's got a handle on the system and the things we do."
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