OPALS star Lauren Nicholson was a committed Hawks fan growing up - and she's not just saying that because she made the Snakepit home ahead of the upcoming WNBL season.
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Raised in the Shire, the 27-year-old shunned the Kings to support the foundation club, former skipper Oscar Forman her favourite player.
It stands to reason given she also makes a habit of shooting above 40 per cent from three-point range, with a WNBL Defensive Player of the Year gong to go with it.
It made her one of the most highly sought free agents at the conclusion of last season, seeing her part ways with Adelaide Lightning after three seasons to commit to the Townsville Fire.
Like most professional athletes, the best plaid plans were thrown into chaos by the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting her to look closer to home to keep preparation ticking over under new Hawks assistant Jacob Jackomas.
"I'm from Sutherland and was back home for a couple of months and was training with Jacob a couple of times a week so when he started with the Hawks he asked if I wanted to jump in with the boys," Nicholson said.
"I trained with all the guards, it's been good. I've known Emmett [Naar] for quite some time we went to college [St Mary's] together.
"It was tough for the first few months [post-COVID] especially but also probably good on the body to have a little bit of a break. Luckily the last couple of months I've had a stadium to practice at and the gyms have re-opened.
"I've been slowly getting back into it but it has been tough, more mentally than anything else. This whole break has made me realise in particular how much I love basketball and I really wouldn't know what to do without a season."
She's now freshly departed for Townsville, which has been pitched as a possible hub location should the WNBL tip off in November - though a January tip-off mirroring the NBL is a possibility.
Having won a championship, and come of age as a player with the Lightining, shifting was a tough call but a necessary one.
"I played three seasons in Adelaide and I did really love it there but it kind of comes to a point in your career where you need to do what's best for your basketball," she said.
"I needed a bit of a change and I liked what [coach] Shannon [Seebohm] was putting together up there and I think I was just ready for something different.
"I think it'll be a bubble, I'm not a hundred per cent sure, but that's what I'm preparing for. You just prepare as it comes and that's what I'm doing."
It's certainly an exciting time to be an Opal with a postponed Olympics scheduled for 2021, with the 2022 World Championships to follow in Sydney.
"That's kind of the motivation at the moment, not just the WNBL but being ready for the Opals camps," Nicholson said.
"I think that's what coach Sandy [Brondello] is always saying, stay ready because you don't know what's coming up next. It's in Sydney which is my hometown so it'd be awesome to be a part of that."
Sydney may be her hometown but she grew up a fan of the Hawks. It's a handy link, with long-term plans afoot to see a WNBL team playing out of Wollongong.
"I've always followed the Hawks since I was a young kid and so has my whole family," she said.
"I've always loved them. Seeing a WNBL team here would be awesome and I'm sure the community would get behind it to do something like that."