There's been so much talk around the Hawks differing approach to recent seasons, with an inside-focused offense. 

It’s a necessary shift given the Hawks roster make-up, but it runs against the modern NBL trend that’s hugely perimeter-focused.

Brian Conklin is certainly holding up his end of the bargain with his 17 points and five rebounds a game but – with Tim Coenraad (37 per cent) the possible exception – Blanchfield remains the only genuine sharpshooter at Rob Beveridge’s disposal.

Jordair Jett’s 25 per cent from long-range is the best in the Hawks back-court that has shot a collective 14 of 58 from downtown. It needs to be better, but three-point shooting has never been their respective strong suit.

Neither they, nor anyone else, can simply click their fingers and become sharpshooters. It just highlights how important Blanchfield, and getting him looks, is.

It’s no secret. Rival coaches have certainly noticed, and done their homework, something Beveridge acknowledged following his side’s disappointing loss on Sunday

“I think Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane have done a hell of a job defending him,” Beveridge said.

“He’s probably one of the main scouts that they do. [Perth] locked into their defensive scheme very well with physicality, the holding and grinding.

“On the other side of it, he’s got to have a bit more grunt in him to be able to get out of the holding and get rid of all the bumping and stuff like that.

“I think he needs to be a lot more assertive and a lot more physical. [Perth had a] great game plan, Toddy’s got to be a little bit more assertive with what he’s doing because I want 15 shots a game from him.”

Blanchfield had just nine field goal attempts on Sunday, but it was when he got going with 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter that his side looked capable of pulling the game out of the fire. 

Beveridge said it’s on the rest of his group to find the 27-year-old.

“We’re not getting [him] enough shots,” Beveridge said.

“I said to Ced [Cedric Jackson] when I subbed him back in ‘we’ve just got to find Toddy’ and he’s just got to jack it because he is a our best shooter.” 

With a limited perimeter shooting arsenal, the non-negotiables become even more crucial.

That’s the other glaring issue, with the Hawks second last in the league in free-throw percentage (67 per cent) and rebounds (35PG).

“The correlation between rebounding and winning is significant, making free-throws and winning is significant,” Beveridge said.

“We missed 10 free-throws, we were 12-22 at 54 per cent, and we lost by nine. In rebounding we got smashed 52-40, they had 14 offensive rebounds.

“In those two categories we failed [on Sunday] and that’s why we lost.” 

CONGER RETURN A BITTER PILL

DEMETRIUS Conger is set to link with Adelaide just in time to suit up against Illawarra this weekend. To quote George Costanza “That’s GOTTA HURT!”

The Hawks faithful only just watched former favourite sons Nick Kay and Mitch Norton star for Perth in Wollongong on Sunday.

Conger was the true MVP of the NBL last season in the eyes of many and remains the best player this columnist has seen play for the Hawks in the flesh.

You can take it as gospel that Big Meech was dead keen to hang around in Wollongong but he simply priced himself out of the Hawks range with his season.

A reluctance to play against the Hawks played a role in his departure to Europe but that stance has obviously softened and you can only imagine his style of play will fit perfectly into Joey Wright’s system.

It’s great to see him back in the league but, with three of the Hawks next five games against the 36ers, Wollongong fans will be hoping he takes a month or so to re-find his feet.