The squad returned to the floor on New Years' Day after the virus that, in the words of coach Brian Goorjian, "decimated" the club's roster and wreaked havoc on what was a favourable home schedule.

There'll be no dipping a toe back in the water, with the Hawks return outing coming against defending champs Melbourne United in Wollongong on Sunday.

United come in on a four-win hot streak, three victories coming in the time the entire Illawarra roster was stuck in isolation, though Froling had the benefit of spending the time with housemates Emmett Naar and Dan Grida.

While he admits the playstation got the biggest workout, he's confident his team won't be restarting too far behind the eight-ball.

"The first day [with the virus] was pretty rough but after about 24 hours it subsided," Froling said.

"I had a few mild symptoms but as the week went on they all subsided as well. I feel pretty healthy, I think the vaccine did its job and booted it out of my system pretty quick.

"It's always tough getting stuck inside for 10 days but I was with Emmett and Grida so it's been fun.

"We had the Zoom workouts every morning to keep our bodies in the best knick we could in a tiny room and I'm feeling pretty good.

"We'll have a few sessions to get our legs back under us and I think we should be right"

The hiccup has provided plenty of time to stew on a last-start loss to Brisbane, but it's the only blemish on a 3-1 start to the season that has Goorjian's side sitting in third spot on the ladder.

Read more: False start won't hamper COVID-hit Hawks

It's even more impressive considering a disrupted build-up that saw two preseason games in Wollongong canned, and three of their first four games come on the road.

For Froling, it bodes well for the remainder of the campaign.

"I feel like we're playing pretty good basketball and we're not even close to our full potential yet," he said.

"We've only played five or six games together so there's heaps of room for improvement.

"I think that's exciting because I feel like we're already such a good team. If we keep getting better, we're going to be tough to beat."

He's not alone in that view, with commentators, fans and rivals placing a weight of expectation on the foundation club that it's rarely had to bear.

Now in his third year in Wollongong, it's a noticeable shift for Froling, but not one that changes his team's approach.

"Last year we were always the underdog and you come into games thinking 'if we do everything perfect we can win'," he said.

"Now it's almost flipped to where it's ours to lose.

"Last year we were that team that was wanting to go in and upset the better teams on the ladder. Now I think the other teams are viewing us as one of the top dogs and they're coming and giving their best to us every game.

"It's a bit of a role reversal for sure, but we still approach it the same way. We come into every game with the same attitude, we take every game seriously and we just want to beat everybody.

"To do that we have to play at our best every night because everyone's giving us their best shot."

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