He'll certainly endear himself to the bluest of blue collar fanbases with performances like the one he produced on Thursday night, grabbing eight steals and keeping two-time MVP Bryce Cotton to just six points in an 82-74 win over the Wildcats.

He also had 14 points and five rebounds, three of them offensive, in a strong bounce back from an admittedly underwhelming first outing 48 hours earlier.

"I definitely wasn't happy with my performance as an individual on Tuesday and I wanted to make sure I came out with a great mindset as far as making my presence felt," Simon said.

"Unfortunately we had a man go down [on Tuesday], Deng Adel, one of our great players on this team and my number was called. I ended up pitching in in a major way on the defensive end and I wanted to make my presence felt and be disruptive.

"That was the main focal point for the whole team, just locking in on defence, because offensively we felt we were getting great looks. We made strides in that first game, but Thursday was a big leap on both sides of the ball for us.

"It felt like we went for the jugular, we were locking in defensively and it was contagious. Everyone was getting their hands on on-ball deflections, blocks, steals and it was leading to easy buckets on offense."

Setting the defensive tone is what the 24-year-old California native has long prided himself on, having been named Big East Defensive Player of the Year as a junior at St. Johns in 2019.

"Blue collar's a great way to describe [my mentality]," Simon said.

"Scoring doesn't define the player that I am, I'm a versatile player, I can do multiple things on the court. I kind of found out throughout college that that was going to be my niche.

"I hang my hat on the defensive end, getting my team extra possessions, offensive rebounds, steals, being disruptive... just being that energy guy and trying to make it contagious."

Read more: Hawks overcome chaotic build-up to claim second stoush with Wildcats

Coach Brian Goorjian set some tongues, or more specifically twitter thumbs, wagging in labelling Simon his 'Bryce Cotton Stopper' in the lead-up to their first outing.

Cotton finished with 25 points on Tuesday, but could only manage six in Thursday's rematch. It sets up a juicy clash the next time they meet, but Simon isn't daunted by any name in the NBL.

"I didn't hear coach make those comments but I'm glad he thinks that highly of me," Simon said.

"I've heard nothing but great things about Bryce, he's a great player, he showed us that on Tuesday night. Even watching film on him I could see what a great player he is but it's not only him, I'm willing to accept the challenge with anybody in this league.

"Defence is something I hang my hat on, night in and night out. Whoever my opponent is, I'm going to bring it every night and get after it."

The Hawks received some welcome news on Adel on Thursday, with scans clearing the MVP fancy of any serious damage after he hobbled from the court with a calf injury on Tuesday night, though he won't play in Sunday's preseason fixture against the Kings.

The COVID outbreak in Sydney has raised doubts over whether it'll go ahead but Simon said his side's hungry for its third game in six days.

"We're controlling the controllables, we're going to do the proper things we would do to prepare for the game and, as long as it's on, we're on," Simon said.

"We're all hungry, we all want to get after it, even though it's preseason we want to see how we look, how our opponents look, and just get out there and compete."