WAYNE Bennett barely knew the directions to WIN Stadium when he made the declaration which set St George Illawarra on the path to premiership glory.
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"There's a perception that St George haven't been tough, well I guarantee you they'll be tough next year," said Bennett at his first Dragons training session in November, 2008.
"If they've under-achieved, and that's the perception, well it doesn't all fall back on the coaches they've had here before, there's got to be some other underlying factors.
"I've got to find out what that is and I haven't come here with any pre-conceived ideas. I've got to look, listen, watch and start to pick up the things that I think we need to improve."
Bennett had placed the first marker, changing the Dragons “choking” culture which saw them lose preliminary finals in 2005 and 2006.
Instead, after again falling short in 2009, they built a defence which choked the life out of their NRL rivals to win the 2010 premiership.
On Wednesday, after the Illawarra Hawks blew a big lead to fall to Perth for the third time in as many weeks, coach Rob Beveridge was searching for a similar solution. Emerging from voluntary administration, the Hawks bought the remarkable shooting talent of Kevin Lisch and Kirk Penney, off-setting it by signing big man AJ Ogilvy.
On Wednesday, Lisch put on a masterclass as the Hawks led by as many as 13 early in the fourth quarter, before Jermaine Beal sparked a 31-point Perth final surge to snatch victory.
In the aftermath, Beveridge was seething, labelling the Hawks “mentally soft”.
He described the last quarter as “horrible”, “gut-wrenching” and “heart-breaking”, leaving the players to ponder his words for 10 days before their next NBL game in Adelaide.
Few teams will come away from a game against Perth after dominating on the boards. But when your own coach declares “we are the worst rebounding team in the league”, the message cannot be any clearer.
Beveridge knows he has the type of firepower which the Illawarra Hawks, as a foundation club, have rarely seen on court.
He’s openly declared the Hawks will continue to deliver an entertaining product, but not at the expense of a non-existent defence.
The issue for the Hawks is the damage the two losses to Perth might do to their campaign in February.
In a tight competition, the Hawks are fourth on the NBL ladder at 4-5, a situation which is easily fixable.
But with Melbourne and Perth seemingly destined for play-offs action, the Hawks already have precious little room for error. Beveridge will be hoping his outburst after Wednesday’s capitulation will conjur the same sort of response Bennett found from the Dragons in 2010.
