Worse still when they have to sit on it on through the two-week FIBA window that coach Jacob Jackomas and his side were admittedly clinging to.

It may or not prove a mirage, particularly given the tough road stretch that awaits them when the competition resumes.

First up there's Sydney at their house, then a trip south to take on the Phoenix. They'll then head home to host Melbourne United ahead of the toughest swing they face in the entire schedule in round 10.

They'll head south for another clash with the Phoenix in Melbourne on a Thursday before jumping on a plane and heading to the tropical north to take on Cairns less than 48 hours later.

As the comedian Bill Burr would lament - it's brutal.

Indeed what's most concerning about the Hawks 1-8 record is the fact they are 1-5 at home after what was a fairly friendly early-season draw.

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It leaves plenty of ground to make up to scrape into a play-in - some say too much - but there's a sliver of hope in the fact the Hawks have looked most at home on the road the past two seasons.

Yeah, yeah, different roster, different coach and all that; but the numbers are intriguing.

In Brian Goorjian's first season, COVID and then the NBL Cup had the Hawks on the road for 16 of 17 games before laying down semi-permanent roots in Wollongong.

They famously went 4-0 on the road to start their campaign. Goorjian seemed overly jubilant at the time but he knew the importance of it.

As he said: "we've got these four in our back pocket and they can't take it away from us."

With the NBL Cup that favoured eventual champions United and as well as South East Melbourne to an absurd degree, Goorjian knew the middle of the season shaped as the toughest stretch.

It made for a 10-8 road ledger, with the Hawks then winning eight of their last 10 on a back-ended home schedule to reach the playoffs.

Coaches and players alike credited that early road run for building the culture of what was essentially a new franchise, under new ownership, under a new staff and with a host of new faces.

As far as coming together, time on the road can put it all on the fast track.

Of course the pendulum swung completely last season, with COVID lockdowns and a rolling NBL schedule seeing the Hawks play 11 of their first 16 games in Wollongong.

After starting with two road wins, the Hawks were ultimately 9-7 but suffered a series of poor defeats at home where they had a 6-5 record.

With nine of their final 12 games coming on the road, there were plenty willing to put a line through them despite the fact they remained in the top four.

They won eight of those nine games for an overall road record of 11-3 to finish the regular season second on the ladder.

This season, the Hawks were game in road losses to Perth and Adelaide, with their most disappointing defeats coming at home.

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In a campaign thus far short on silver linings, it's something. Returning spark plug Dan Grida certainly thinks as much.

"When you're on the road, you do everything together, you live together, you eat together," he said.

"Right now we're 1-8 , people aren't expecting much from us, so we should be playing with no fear, no pressure.

"The top six make [the playoffs] this year which is huge for us with the start we've had.

"If we come out and play with nothing to lose, being on the road, that's the ideal opportunity to try and snag some.

"Everyone knows how much we love to beat the Kings so it'd be good to go get one up there and then we're off to Melbourne after that.

"Hopefully it brings us together a little bit more and we'll see how that treats us.

"We've made the playoffs the last two years which people seem to forget.

"We've had a tough start but there's nothing to say we can't bring this thing back.

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