Blanchfield: 'Hawks can compete with anyone'

The Illawarra Hawks have just completed one of the toughest tasks of the second half of NBL24 – walking into RAC Arena and emerging with a win.

Perth was on a six-game winning streak heading into Thursday night’s clash, and hadn’t suffered a home defeat since a five-point loss to Brisbane back in Round 5.

It’s also just the third time the Wildcats have lost by double-figures at RAC Arena since Round 20, NBL22.

Veteran wing Todd Blanchfield left the Wildcats for the Hawks at the end of last season, and says Thursday night's result is just further confirmation his side can compete with anyone when they’re at their best.

“As a group every time we step on the floor there’s a confidence we’re going to go in to win,” Blanchfield said post-game.

“To come into their venue and get a really solid performance and win like that on the road in front of a sold out crowd, it’s reassurance for the group that when we do show up and put our best foot forward, and we throw the first punch, we’re not sitting back on our heels and we’re attacking, it goes to show what we can do.

“For me, to look up and the scoreboard and see we’d held a team like Perth to 35 points at half-time, it was something we spoke about and to be able to execute our scout the way we wanted to, it’s got to be the way going forward.

“The confidence is there amongst the group, it just reinforced what we can do.”

Blanchfield starred off the bench for the Hawks with 16 points in just 15 minutes of action, but eyes were on how import guard Justin Robinson would perform having been moved to the second unit in favour of sharpshooter HJ Lee.

Robinson had hit just one of 13 shots across his last pair of games, but was a strong contributor in the win over Perth with nine points on 50 per cent shooting, four rebounds and four assists.

Interim head coach Justin Tatum says Robinson tackled the challenge of not being included in the starting five well.

“J-Rob is a true professional, and he accepted it,” Tatum said. “We knew something needed to change up in our style of play and our lineup, and it was not a demotion for him in my opinion, he gave us strength off the bench and a great voice.

“He’s great with the scout and he does what point guards do, he understands the plays and what’s being called and so he led that second unit to be able to give us that burst of energy we needed.

“I have 12, 13 very talented guys who could probably start for any team in this league. Everybody has to accept their role and accept they might not play the significant amount of minutes they feel they should play, but they do what it takes to win.

“J-Rob is one of those guys, he was perfect tonight for me ... he did exceptionally well for us.”

The Hawks will next battle the Breakers on Sunday, as both sides continue to search for a late-season winning run to push them into the top six.

Illawarra has allowed itself to be pulled right back into the thick of the battle for the Play-In positions following its three straight losses prior to Thursday, and Blanchfield says their performance against the Wildcats needs to become his side’s new normal.

“We were pretty disappointed with last weekend, and I think we felt like as a group we let that slip, and that’s on us,” he said.

“Our backs are against the wall and every game our season is on the line. We’re going to continue to approach every game the exact same way, we can’t come out with a slow start, we can’t come out and be down by 10 at the end of the first quarter and expect to win.

“This league’s too good and you have to be able to put 40 minutes together. If we can do that, we’ve once again shown we can compete with anyone in the league.”