The Hawks were without arguably two of their best players in Tyler Harvey and Michael Frazier II in their 87-60 thrashing at the hands of Tasmania in their last start before Christmas, but the two will be fit and firing against the Wildcats in a major boost for coach Jacob Jackomas.
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The Hawks coach will be the first to tell you that the blow-out in the third and fourth quarter at the hands of the JackJumpers was on him following the need to gamble and go 'all in' in order to win the match without Harvey and Frazier - who both fell victim to an illness that went around the Hawks camp.
And whilst Jackomas said he was incredibly proud of the efforts of his side against Tasmania, the addition of Harvey and Frazier against Perth would prove a massive boost.
"For any team it would be a real kick in the teeth [to lose two of your best players]," Jackomas told the Mercury.
"But [it is] even more so with us because of our record, there has to be some sort of fragileness behind us even though you don't really see it on the day-to-day. We had a plan to try and win [against Tasmania]. It was a risky plan and it was sort of pretty good up until the third quarter when we were eight down.
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"They tried to do their best and it is on me, I just didn't have a better one for them whilst we were missing those two guys. But having them back using some of the things we did well [in that match] we can learn from that game."
The Hawks go into their New Year's Eve fixture on a five match losing streak with their last win coming against Melbourne in early December. The side are currently on a 2-15 record and sit bottom of the ladder.
Perth have won four out of their last five, with the side losing in overtime to Brisbane earlier in the week.
Hawks co-captain Sam Froling said New Year's Eve was a massive occasion and he hoped the fans would help them get a victory at home before the side goes on a run of four games in 12 days.
"All of our New Year's games we tend to pick it up a little bit," he said.
"The last game we played on New Year's was against the number one team the Kings and we won. These games are the most fun, the crowd gets into it and we just kind of feed off that.
"When this happens we start to play well and hopefully this weekend it's no different." Dan Grida will look to continue his return to the court following back-to-back ACL injuries. He played 16 minutes against Tasmania.
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Jordan Warren
Illawarra Mercury sports journalist. Feel free to get in touch jordan.warren@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Illawarra Mercury sports journalist. Feel free to get in touch jordan.warren@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
