Both key men were absent from their sides gritty road win over Cairns last Sunday, with Ogilvy nursing a sprained ankle and White a niggling back complaint.

Paint enforcer Brian Conklin was a spectator on Wednesday after suffering his own ankle early in the win over the Taipans, but he’s confident it won’t keep him out of the clash with the Bullets. 

“It was pretty ballooned after the flight [home] but it’s traveling all right now,” Conklin said.

“Just judging from the reaction of the crowd when they saw the footage I’ve stayed away from it. I don’t want to watch it because I lived it in real life.

“It popped when I went down but I think that was probably just some scar tissue breaking up.

“Initially it kind of scared me and it was real sore but I got up, got over it and the adrenaline kicked in.

“I wasn’t taped when I did it so I just wanted to get it taped as quick as possible and get going.

“Luckily it was when Toddy [Blanchfield] got hot so I didn’t have to come back in crazy quick and when did I was good to go.” 

The mishap did little to hamper the 2015 MVP, who finished with 21 points at 71 per cent shooting, eight rebounds and six assists in the victory.

It was an essential contribution in the absence of Ogilvy but Conklin said the determination to get back on the floor would have been there regardless.

“I knew AJ and Whitey weren’t going to play and Bevo said to me before the game that I needed to stay out of foul trouble,” he said.

“Before the game I thought about it a little bit but in the moment I wasn’t really thinking about it.

“When I roll ankles and get hurt in games I’m never going to sit out. When you start something you’ve got to finish it.

“I’m always going to see a game through. We started it and we were playing well and going on a nice little run so I wanted to stay out there and keep playing.” 

The win avoided an 0-3 start to the season and leaves the Hawks having split the two toughest road trips on offer in the NBL in their first three games.

They can square their ledger at 2-2 if they can beat Brisbane at home on Saturday ahead of a road clash against Melbourne United on Monday.

“The win was great for us because we needed to get the first one and get the monkey off our back,” Conklin said.

“It was a great win but we still have 25 more games to go in the season and we’re still shooting for a playoff spot.

“We’ve got two big games this weekend so, while we enjoyed that one, now we’ve got to really get to work.”