No fear for Hawks

Illawarra’s Justin Tatum and Sam Froling say the Hawks have nothing to fear ahead of their Round 19 double-header against Sydney and New Zealand, and believe the side’s current strong run of road form will hold them in good stead in the title race.

The Hawks will enter Round 19 in fourth on the ladder, but a pair of losses to the Breakers and Kings could cause insurmountable damage to their Finals hopes.

Both games will be played away from home, before Illawarra travels to Perth and then faces Melbourne at home in the final round of the regular season.

“I think our away record is better than our home record,” Froling said. “We’re not afraid of anyone on the road or going to play anywhere.

“We’ve got two pretty big away games coming up that we’re excited to go and get this first one in New Zealand.

“It’s been a while since we’ve felt we’re a Finals contending team, so it’s a good feeling.”

“You have to win on the road to win a championship, if you don’t know how to win on the road you can’t ever expect to win a championship,” Tatum added.

“I’m glad our group has had the ability, the toughness and the focus to start winning on the road, so now they know wherever they go they have a chance to win games.”

The Hawks will enter Friday’s clash with the Breakers riding a wave of momentum, created by last weekend’s 13-point win over Brisbane.

The victory solidified Illawarra’s current position in the competition’s top four, and given the Hawks have played fewer games than anyone in the competition bar New Zealand, their destiny is in their hands.

A third-quarter collapse almost spelled doom against the Bullets, but a 27-10 final quarter saw Illawarra cruise to victory.

Froling says the final quarter resurgence is evidence the team is beginning to mesh properly.

“It’s a testament to the players we have and the talent we have on the whole team, and how hard we are to play against,” he said.

“We’re so deep, we’ve got such a good roster and it didn’t matter who was out there.

“I think we rotated eight or nine guys in that fourth quarter, defensively we were unbelievable and we held them to ten points, and offensively we’ve got so many weapons. We’ve really started to work each other out and we’re really clicking.”

The Hawks face the Breakers on Friday night at 5:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo, and Sky Sport in New Zealand.