A 27-point pasting at the hands of Perth in round two aside, the Hawks have been within reach of victory in all of their games down the stretch only to fall short.

They trailed by five with 35 seconds to go against Brisbane in their season-opener before going down by nine and fell just four points short of the Phoenix on the road on Saturday.

Monday's loss to Adelaide was the latest, with the Hawks drawing within two points of the Sixers with 54 seconds left on the clock only to go down by six.

It leaves a one-point win over Cairns at Sandpit nine days ago their only victory of their season. They play their third game in six days on the road against New Zealand - who are currently 0-2 - Thursday before returning to Wollongong to host Perth.

A potential 1-6 start would almost bury their season four rounds in, a reality that was not lost on Flinn following the loss to Adelaide.

"The [first] Perth game we just put the to side, every other game, when you look at it, we've been right in it," Flinn said.

"That's how close this league is but it's a professional league and you're measured on wins and losses. People keep saying it's not a sprint, it's a marathon, but it is a sprint race and if you get behind in the sprint race it's hard to catch up.

"We set ourselves a goal to split this weekend and I thought we battled hard against South Melbourne and then I thought we battled hard again [against Adelaide].

"All you can ask for is that you give yourself a chance to win the game and we did that. but we've got to turn those into wins, there's no question.

"We've got start winning if we want to be a top four team and I still think we can be one. We're 1-4 now so we've got to go over and be desperate against New Zealand and then come back home against Perth."

While the Hawks have made a habit of fighting their way back into contests, they continue to be plagued by sluggish starts, something on show again against the Sixers.

The visitors started with a 12-4 run and put up 31 points by quarter-time, with the Hawks chasing down a deficit for the entire game without ever leading.

Star import Aaron Brooks dragged his side back into the contest with 31 points, but Flinn said his side can't afford to keep surrendering leads.

"We were just leaking points in that first quarter, we gave up 19 points in the first five minutes," Flinn said.

"You can't give up 31 against Adelaide and expect to roll over the top of them, you're always going to be chasing your tail.

"You've got to manage the tempo of the game and if you don't manage the tempo of the game with the stuff you're running that's going to be the result, they're going to get off and running.

"That's just Adelaide, that's Joey [Wright], he's been that way ever since he's been in the league. He recruits people to play that well and they know their system.

"We sent them to the line 40 times, that obviously wasn't the game plan either. We're playing in a fantastic league and you have to execute. We've obviously got to work on some things in terms of execution as every other team does."

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