The Hawks shot just 28/73 from the field including a dismal four of 23 from three-point range but Martin said it was lapses at the defensive end that cost his side victory against Sydney on Thursday.

“Missing shots is going to happen, you can’t control that, you can control what you do on defence and we didn’t execute,” Martin said.

“If we’d stuck to our rules and weren’t taking the ball out of the net to start with, we’d have been off to the races, we’d have been fine but that’s the problem. 

I think that just shows our immaturity as a new group. We didn’t stick to our rules, we broke down defensively all over the shop. That’s really what started it all.”

Martin said filling the void left by the likely absence of starting guard Mitch Norton will need to be a collective effort.

“He’s a great leader by what he does. He’s not very vocal out there yet, he’s young, he’s still learning but his energy...we’re going to miss that,” Martin said.

“He’s a very important cog in that rotation between myself, Kevin White, Rotnei and even Marvelle plays some guard. That’s just a job for all of us to pick up the slack.”