Rob Beveridge, and for that matter Hawks fans, were likely in the same boat given how crucial the three-time NBL First Team centre is to their side's playoff hopes. 

The early signs were encouraging when he logged 15 points and a staggering 21 rebounds – nine of them offensive – in the Hawks season-opener against Melbourne.

It was the type of performance that saw him considered the league's premier big man and provided and an answer to those who questioned whether he could push his body back to top form.

“I did an incredible amount of work this off-season so I knew where I was,” Ogilvy said.

“I was confident in my ability to play and my ability to go. The only people that had to be proven wrong was everyone else that was talking trash. 

“I knew where I was so that didn't bother me too much. I knew I was in as good a shape as I'd been so it was good to go out there and show people.”

It made the timing of his latest injury setback, that kept him out of his side's road win over Cairns last week, particularly frustrating.

“Any professional athlete wants to play every game and I obviously don't want to miss a game when I've done all the training in the preseason,” Ogilvy said.

“I was doing everything I possibly could to get on the court, unfortunately on the flight up there it blew up a bit. .

“I've done so much work so to be missing practices and missing games at the start of the season is a little bit frustrating but, at the end of the day, it's part of the job

"There's a still a little bit of weakness in the ankle when I try to drive off it but it's better than I expected it to be.

“I've got to make sure I take the best care of myself, which I've been doing, and hopefully I'll be good to go for a big weekend.”

If there was a silver lining to Ogilvy's absence it was no doubt the performance of import Brian Conklin, whose 21 points, eight boards and six assists played a huge part in the 11-point victory.

The odds on the Hawks winning without Ogilvy in previous seasons would have been astronomical, but the performance showed the Hawks are certainly an inside force to be reckoned with this season.

“We're a very different group this year,” Ogilvy said.

“The past couple of years our four men have been more stretch fours and haven't really played inside. We haven't had a guy like Brian or Dave [Andersen] that's as physical inside and that's a big difference.

“Previously I think we would've got out-rebounded badly if I didn't play but I think we showed we'll compete with everyone inside this season.

“It is exciting to have that interior focus, after the way we played last year especially. It's what we need to do to succeed and I'm happy to do whatever it takes for us to win games.”

The win over Cairns sets up the chance to quickly flip their win-loss ledger to 3-2 with matches against Brisbane at home on Saturday and Melbourne on the road on Monday. 

”That win was a very important one for us,” Ogilvy said.

“The difference between 1-2 and 0-3 is only a number but when you really look at it it's enormous. 

“It's hard when you've got a couple of games on the road to start the season. If you start losing games on the road everyone starts talking about you, you start playing worse and it's kind of like quicksand.

“We've split the road so far, which is what you need to do, and now we need to take care of home court on Saturday.”