There's is a blueprint at least. Sure, Illawarra fans are yet to storm those shipping containers at the Snakepit, but they've been disgruntled since having their name - and identity - stripped from their beloved Hawks.

It was the dumbest of dumb decisions from the NBL (though we'll no doubt soon hear from league HQ about how it was all part of some plan). Delving deeply back into that decision is raking over old coals, especially as the return of 'Illawarra' to the emblem now seems a matter of when, not if.

When the GOAT speaks, people listen, and the passion with which Goorjian spoke of it on Thursday night gave the distinct impression it was something he's wanted to say for some time.

"I've been thinking about it hard and it's taken some time to blurt it out but, I talked to my dad this week about what's going on here," Goorjian said.

"He's in his 90s and he's been following this. He said to me 'why the heck aren't you guys Illawarra? You don't play like Hawks, you play like Illawarra'.

"I've been thinking about it and, I've been around Chuck Harmison, Greg Hubbard, Glen Saville, Mat Campbell... these guys have earned that right. They're Illawarra and we're Illawarra. I'm feeling that strong about it now.

"I've been around the block and that [Illawarra] community's special. It's been around longer, we've been around longer, than [Perth's] Red Army. It's time. The rest of the way, if I win every game and win the whole thing and we're still [just] 'Hawks', I haven't done my job."

As mentioned in this column a fortnight ago, there have been whispers the name is set to be restored for a number of weeks, but Goorjian's speech - unprompted - still took people by surprise; including some at the NBL.

If it wasn't fait accompli, surely it is now. There's no more edging toward it, the master coach has spoken. It set Game On's phone abuzz with messages from happy fans, though some did ask if this was a guy simply backing Winx?

The answer was an emphatic no. He'd already described the return of the name as a "must." but this was straight from the heart, as is Goorjian's way. He actually gets it, and he did from the very start.

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He told this columnist as much when he was first appointed to the role. From the NBL, to the new ownership group, the coach was the only figure involved who spoke to it with any brevity or with any sense understanding.

"I don't know if there's anything you can say but I just speak from the heart and say I understand, I've been through this and I know how it feels," Goorjian said at the time.

He was referring to his first title reign with the South East Melbourne Magic, a club he took to a championship in its inaugural season in 1992 and another in 1996. Then, after a 26-4 season in 1998, the Magic merged with the North Melbourne Giants and became the Victoria Titans.

"With the Magic, I started with that franchise in the beginning and that brand became very, very powerful in Melbourne. It's something I was very proud of and passionate about. It broke my heart."

It speaks to the experience he's had in his wildly successful coaching career after arriving in Australia as a player in 1977. The Magic itself was a merger of the Eastside Spectres and South Melbourne Saints.

He took the Titans to four straight grand final appearances before the club went into administration and a new ownership group incredibly punted him. Even with his unmatched success with the Kings ended with the demise of the club amid the Firepower collapse.

He coached the South Dragons to his sixth championship a year later and then that club was added to a long list of 'now defunct NBL clubs'. Little wonder he'd had enough and headed to China.

Of the five NBL teams he's coached, four of them to championships, only one (Sydney) is still around. It reveals an incredible ability to bring about on-court success amid grossly dysfunctional club ownership and management.

It also puts him in a rare position to grasp how special it is that the Illawarra Hawks are, and remain, the NBL's only foundation club. His words on Thursday night speak to that.

It's something all too readily sneezed at in boardrooms far fancier than those containers at the Snakepit, but not by Goorjian. Like he said, it's time it got its due.