Analysis: Hawks, United Worst Hit By Injuries

The Illawarra Hawks’ injury woes have been well publicised in NBL23, and you only need to look at the data to show the true impact of key players missing.

In all, the Hawks have had players sidelined for close to 70 combined games, with the likes of Justin Robinson (knee), Peyton Siva (shoulder), Michael Frazier (wrist) and George King (ankle) all spending significant time on the sidelines.

Couple that with a long-term hamstring injury to Dan Grida, and Illawarra just hasn’t been able to catch a break.

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While Melbourne United have made an incredible run to put themselves in a position to contend, it hasn’t been without significant hurdles.

It’s easy to forget Ariel Hukporti (achilles) has been sidelined for the entire season, while Shea Ili (concussion symptoms), Dave Barlow (concussion), Isaac Humphries (knee) and Mason Peatling (knee) have all been out for extended periods.

United is a close second to the Hawks in terms of games missed.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> injury update ?<a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MelbUnited</a> Next Star Ariel Hukporti left tonight&#39;s game in the 3rd quarter with a lower leg injury.<br><br>More info will be provided as it comes to hand. <a href="https://t.co/FIfj76eScm">pic.twitter.com/FIfj76eScm</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1572556246435368961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

South East Melbourne has had its share of injury troubles too, but it’s the Tasmania JackJumpers who sit next on the list for games missed due to injury and unavailability.

Clint Steindl, Sam McDaniel, Will Magnay and Matt Kenyon, key players in the JackJumpers’ memorable run to last season’s Grand Final series, have all spent ten or more games out with injury.

In all, Tasmania’s roster has missed close to 50 games this season.

But it’s all come good at the right time for Scott Roth’s men, injury-free leading into another potential finals campaign.

The same can’t be said for the Phoenix, who are still without Zhou Qi (personal reasons) and Ryan Broekhoff (hamstring) at the pointy end of the season.

That comes off the back of nine games missed from Gary Browne, five from Trey Kell and another seven earlier in the season from Broekhoff.

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Brisbane and New Zealand are similarly placed in terms of games missed, and next on the list. 

For the Breakers, it’s the calibre of player that’s hurt most – Rayan Rupert (eight games), Barry Brown Jr (six) and Tom Abercrombie (eight) have all been out at various times, but like the JackJumpers, all are fit and firing heading into the final fortnight. I'

At the other end of the scale, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney simply have no excuses.

All three sides have only lost their players for a handful of games due to injury.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Adam Forde issued an update on Keanu Pinder after the star centre was forced from the court in the third quarter ? <a href="https://t.co/ww3gs7tbAe">pic.twitter.com/ww3gs7tbAe</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1618216419791101959?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>