Illawarra Hawks captain Sam Froling said it was up to the players to turn around the struggling NBL club's fortunes.
Speaking ahead of the Hawks road trip to Cairns on Saturday, Froling said the players needed to hold each other accountable and improve across the board, especially on the defensive end.
Illawarra are last on the ladder with a 2-6 win-loss record and have the worst defensive record in the league, giving up a touch over 97 points per game in their eight outings to date.
For the fourth time this season the Hawks gave up more than 100 points in their last-start loss to Sydney Kings.
Froling conceded that was not good enough and the players had to take some ownership of their poor showings to date.
"It's disappointing but it's part of the sport, you have to move on and approach the next game with confidence," he said.
"We've got Cairns once and we want to improve on our performance [against the Kings].
"Our defence hasn't been good enough. It's on us to hold each other accountable and really improve that area because right now it's costing us games.
'We have to guard a whole lot better, rotations have got to be better, as does the movement of the ball.
"So we need to play together as a group defensively and then hope that translates to the offensive end as well."
After the Hawks dismal campaign last season the club brought in a host of new players for this season.
While Froling admitted it was taking longer than expected for the players to gel, he refused to use that as an excuse for the team's struggles to date.
"I mean it could be a little bit of that as we get to know each other but if we knew what the issue was it probably wouldn't be an issue anymore," the 23-year-old
"It's part of the process, we're still working it out. We do however have a very talented group and the belief is there and we're gonna fix it."
Personally the centre had a decent game against the Kings, contributing 13 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
But with Tyler Harvey and Justin Robinson struggling to impose themselves offensively on the game, combining for just 14 points and making only five of the 23 shots they put up against the Kings, it was up to fellow import Gary Clark to carry the scoring.
Froling was happy to see Clark have a good game against the Kings but stressed the Hawks could not rely on just one guy to score big and needed more offensive threats going forward.
"You can't rely on someone having a unreal game to win games because it's not going to happen every night," he said.
"That's why we need to pick up on the defensive end because that's where you are going to win those games where someone is not going off.
"We have so much talent that any of us can go off really and win us a game but we want to be able to fall back on our defence. If shots aren't dropping that's when you need your defence to stand up."
Our news app has had a makeover, making it faster and giving you access to even more great content.
Download The Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store and Google Play
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
