Bevo's call to arms for Hawks fans

It was a must-win game for us and we were in a massive hole. Brisbane were executing really well and we were down 10 or 12 points late in the game. Then that ‘Illa-Warra’ chant went up we just got on the back of it and it carried us home. It was just phenomenal.

The only other game I can compare it to was our play-off win over Perth at home last season. We had our backs to the wall, we’d lost Kevin Lisch in the game before and Perth touched us up on their home floor.

They came over here with their tails up expecting to walk all over us but our crowd created an electric atmosphere that we just fed off. We ended up winning by 17 points and the crowd had plenty to do with it. 

The atmosphere against Brisbane last week was on par with that and what was even more incredible was that we only had 3,000 people there. It just makes you wonder what it could be like if it was packed out.

Challenge Stadium in Perth is still one of my all-time favourite venues. It was one of the most intimidating environments I’ve ever worked in as a coach. The crowd the is so close to the court, they feel like they’re bearing down on top of you.

I think the WEC is very similar to that and last Friday brought back memories of those old days. It’s a fantastic venue, the only thing I don’t like about it is that curtain at the northern end. That curtain hasn’t been down since I’ve been here and it’s been a goal of mine since my first game to tear that thing down.

We were written off before the season started. As is always is, it was all about Perth, it was all about Melbourne, it was all about Sydney but here we are, sitting in second and contending for an NBL championship. Illawarra fans have always loved an underdog story and we’re writing one, but if we want to go to that next level we need the fans to come with us. 

It’s getting down to crunch time for us. We’ve got six games to go and four of them are at home. It’s time to ditch that bloody curtain.