Wollongong Hawks guard Tyson Demos stoically returned to training yesterday after the sudden death of his father Kon earlier this week.
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Despite his anguish, Demos just wanted to get on with the job of preparing for tomorrow's round seven clash with Cairns at WIN Entertainment Centre.
The 24-year-old trained superbly, displaying his usual voracious appetite for defence and rebounding.
The Hawks have rallied tightly around their tough-minded teammate and will continue to provide all the support he needs.
"It's good to see Tyse back at training, maybe to get some normality back and just get back around the guys, but we know it's a tough time for him," forward Glen Saville said.
"All of us feel for him. It's very sudden. I imagine he and his family are doing it very, very tough.
"That's the thing about sport, that you spend a lot of time with your teammates and they're practically your best mates.
"It's up to us to try and support him as much as we can, but also understand he's going through a very difficult time and might need some space here and there.
"He would know that we're there for him - that goes without saying. It's hard to put into words but Tyson knows we're there if he needs someone to talk to."
Saville said several Hawks players had been affected by Kon's death.
"I knew him for quite a long time," Saville said.
"Guys like Jacko [Hawks forward Dan Jackson] have been knocking around at Tyson's house since they were young kids.
"Kon's very well-known around town and was a very big supporter of our club over the years and followed Tyson all through juniors."
The Hawks will wear black arm-bands tomorrow in memory of Kon and a minute's silence will be held just prior to tip-off.
Second-placed Wollongong (5-1) are coming off last week's road loss to Sydney and are eager to make sure their losing streak doesn't stretch beyond one game.
"The fortunate thing for us is that so far our schedule has been fairly kind to us," Saville said.
"We lose a game like that last week and we get to come back home and get our confidence back up in front of our supporters.
"It's not like everything we've done so far is thrown out the window.
"It was just one of those nights where we didn't shoot the ball well."