Star Hawk Must Keep Foot on Pedal

NBL analyst Liam Santamaria has declared Illawarra Hawks co-captain Sam Froling can be “the next Aussie big man on the scene”.

Froling scored a career best 29 points in round nine against Melbourne United - he also provided nine rebounds.

Santamaria said if Froling can consistently play aggressively and build his confidence, he may become one of the best Australians in the NBL.

“Sam Froling, for me, the rest of this season, he’s just got to keep his foot on the pedal,” Santamaria said on NBL Overtime.

“Don’t turn down those looks from long range, you can shoot that shot big fella, be a dominant force the rest of the way and announce yourself as the next Aussie big man on the scene.

“He can shoot it he just doesn’t have the confidence yet in himself.

“Just shoot it, just go ahead and let that thing fly and it’s going to be good for that team.”

Overtime host Cam Luke agreed with Santamaria, suggesting Froling is the new definition of a prototypical big man in the NBL.

“That’s the evolution of basketball around the world, you’ve got to be able to stretch the defence and it’s made life easier and that’s exactly what the NBL is,” Luke said.

“We don’t have an Andrew Bogut essentially, (Aron) Baynes although he does shoot the three-ball himself, you’ve got to be able to stretch it and Sam Froling’s next step is what he did (on Monday) and doing it consistently.”

The Hawks finally gained their second win of the season on Monday night, and with three healthy imports, they could play spoiler during the second half of the season.

“I think they can do a little damage from here on out,” Santamaria said.

“Now they can just focus on being that spoiler team, that team with the chip on their shoulder saying, you think it’s an easy win against us? Well, we’ll see how that goes.”

The Hawks play the South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena on Thursday night at 7:30pm AEDT.