![Justin Tatum's tenure as Hawks coach has been a throwback to the club's championship-winning season as the league 'road warriors'. Picture by Adam McLean Justin Tatum's tenure as Hawks coach has been a throwback to the club's championship-winning season as the league 'road warriors'. Picture by Adam McLean](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ViGe8NXxNszpWGz2Wi7TWd/5efe05ed-767f-451d-b558-5f0def458e36.jpg/r0_0_6000_4000_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
'Championships are won on the road' was an ethos Illawarra's only title-winning coach Brendan Joyce swore by en route to the Hawks 2001 NBL crown.
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In what fans will hope is a good omen, current coach Justin Tatum is swearing by the same principle in reviving the Hawks fortunes to a point that's put them within reach of a fairy tale second championship.
The Hawks first win under Tatum came on the road in New Zealand, part of an overall 6-4 record on the road under their recently re-signed mentor.
It includes a double-overtime road win over Tasmania, where they'll return for Wednesday's seeding qualifier, and a season-defining away win over Perth in January.
The latter bodes well for Tatum's team if they can beat the JackJumpers on Wednesday and book a spot in a semi-final series against the Wildcats that will see them needing to win at least one of two games in Perth to progress.
Joyce's methods two decades ago included mandatory team dinners, and even checking into hotels ahead of Wollongong games, in order to mimic the road environment.
It saw the Hawks go a remarkable 12-2 away from Wollongong, and culminated in claiming the title winning five games on the road to four at home, including the grand-final series clincher in Townsville.
Tatum revealed he's implemented similar methods to navigate a 6-6 home-away split in his team's final 12 games before finishing fourth on the ladder.
"Once I took over and once we saw ourselves in a playoff run, I kept reminding our guys 'we can't win anything unless you can win a game on the road, so let's start preparing ourselves for that'," Tatum said.
"We started to have a road mentality, even at home. All the things we were doing on the road, we brought that mentality and that structure to home games.
"It's not allowing everybody to run around the locker room, still having those team dinners and lunches, whatever we could do before the game to build that bond and that mentality.
"We knew winning on the road was major for us once we started seeing ourselves in playoff contention."
The Hawks got home by a point after two overtimes on their last trip to Tasmania, one that left Tatum convinced there's no tougher place to play in the league than where his team is headed on Wednesday.
Club legend Damon Lowery - himself one of Joyce's road warriors two decades ago - agrees, telling the NBL Now podcast that the JackJumpers faithful is a double-digit advantage for their team.
"That home crowd, not just any home crowd, that JackJumpers home crowd, is worth at least 12 points," Lowery said.
"If they're down, they'll bring them back. If they're up, they could blow the doors off of you. These guys all show up in droves, the city is on lock-down in a good way and the atmosphere is going to be electric.
"The Tassie JackJumpers have been playing playoff-style basketball for the last four to five rounds of the season. Even when they'd lose a game it was only by the narrowest of margins.
"I feel like the JackJumpers are coming in red-hot. Everybody's healthy, everybody's clearly bought into the 'Jacky' way. Everyone's on board, Jack McVeigh, Jordan Crawford, Milton Doyle, Will Magnay, all those guys are in form.
"They're going to take some beating, but make no mistake, the Hawks are very capable.
"The last time the Hawks were there it was double-overtime and they came out with the win, so they're not going to just give it to the JackJumpers, they're going to have to earn it."
While the fans will factor in the hosts favour on Wednesday, Lowery also was not discounting the effect of the decision to endorse Tatum as head coach for the next three seasons will have on the Hawks.
"They got the man for the job, they stitched him up, three-year deal," Lowery said.
"What that does is stabilises the entire community. Everybody now doesn't have to worry about what's going to happen next year, is this the right guy? All those distractions are now gone and they can just focus on the job at hand.
"Everybody on the team, from one to 12, the DPs, the support staff, they know who's driving the bus. Justin Tatum's driving the bus. They believe in this dude and Justin Tatum's the best thing to happen in Wollongong for a long time.
"Belief is sky-high, can they go on a run and win it all? Absolutely they can. It's going to be hard coming from fourth, but it's very possible."