Hawks guard out for a week

Demos underwent major dental surgery on Tuesday and is sidelined for at least a week.

The 26-year-old has been wearing a specially designed mouth guard this season after his front teeth were badly damaged in a pre-season training collision with teammate Dominique Cooks.

On the plus side, Coenraad is back after a stomach bug forced him out of last week’s home loss to Sydney. Hill has also recovered after being bedridden with a similar illness earlier this week.

‘‘We’ll re-assess Tyson for next weekend’s game, but Hilly and Timmy trained fully on Wednesday,’’ coach Gordie McLeod said.

‘‘Hilly lost about 3kg, but he’s on the mend, and Timmy was a lot better than what he was on Monday. Hopefully they’ll be fine.’’

Coenraad was a game-day withdrawal against the Kings and ended up watching Wollongong’s 29-point loss in his loungeroom.

‘‘If there was any way I could’ve played I would’ve, but I would’ve been letting the team down,’’ he said.

‘‘There was a chance I could’ve given it to someone. I may’ve even given it to Brad. It was best that I went home and rested up.’’

Last-placed Wollongong are stuck in an eight-game losing slump.

The most worrying aspect is that the Hawks’ past three defeats were by 19, 13 and 29 points, an indication they might be getting worse rather than better.

‘‘We’re in a tough spot right now,’’ Coenraad said.

‘‘We’re not used to have to having different types of players on our team. That’s no offence to the guys we’ve brought in. They’re all great players. But in terms of what we’ve done in the past, we’ve got half the group from last year thinking that we need to execute what we’re used to doing, and half the group thinking that the style of basketball they’re used to playing isn’t the style we’re used to playing.

‘‘It’s really a clash of half the team versus the other half of the team, trying to get everything right, but every day at practice I believe we’re making progress. Sometimes it’s tough and we’re still a long way off from where we need to be, but the fact is that we need to get it together now.

‘‘Last season we didn’t start off great, but during those games we just had a feeling that we would click, and then it happened. Those signs haven’t been there lately, certainly not in the Sydney game.

‘‘It’s a matter of everyone being a pro because this playing group won’t ever be together again after this season. It’s up to us to turn around our season.’’