Pride and passion. These two words have encapsulated the 2018-19 National Basketball League season of our Illawarra Hawks.
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When the team has played with those two words at the forefront of their mind they have looked almost unstoppable.
When the side has played without pride and passion, they have looked lifeless and suffered heavy defeats as result.
Illawarra Hawks fans could be forgiven for feeling like they have been riding a rollercoaster at Luna Park rather than watching the region’s beloved basketball side season. Well, buckle up again.
The next twists and loops are about to get underway as the Hawks launch into a two-game stint this week, starting with welcoming arch enemies the Adelaide 36ers to the WIN Entertainment Centre on Thursday night.
The rivalry between these two sides is genuine and unfriendly.
“People always talk about Sydney-Illawarra being the biggest rivalry of all but I think the [recent] history of us and Adelaide is in everyone’s memory,” Beveridge told the Illawarra Mercury.
“The physicality, their crowd getting after us, our crowd getting after them. Fans don’t forget. They come here to silence our crowd we go over there to silence theirs.
“You know it’s always going to be really heated and it’s just continued.”
The crowd in attendance at the WIN Entertainment Centre on Thursday night and watching nationally or internationally on television is in for another hell of a ride.
Again this season coach Rob Beveridge’s Bevo’s Playbook column has given Hawks fans an incredible insight into the inner workings of their team and the thinking of the team “behind the scenes”.
In this week’s column Beveridge has described this encounter as a game the Hawks must win.
In fact, he put it all in capitals. “WE MUST BEAT ADELAIDE,” he said.
A must win game, against an arch enemy. Do not miss it.
There will need to be plenty of pride and passion on the line when the Illawarra Hawks take the court this week.
