Wani back to winning ways

Illawarra’s Wani Swaka Lo Buluk already had a heaving trophy case by the time he got to the Hawks. The former Perth and Sydney wing arrived in Wollongong with three NBL championships to his name, but then, the winning stopped.

Swaka Lo Buluk’s arrival coincided with an injury crisis of epic proportions in NBL23, and he endured a 5-32 record to start his Hawks career. With Justin Tatum at the helm now, the Hawks – at this stage – look likely to return to the post-season.

While the 22-year-old admits he struggled to come to terms with being on a losing side, he maintains his move to Wollongong was – and continues to be – the right one.

“It was definitely new,” Swaka Lo Buluk told The Illawarra Mercury. “The three years before that I had been on winning teams, I had been in the Grand Final every single year. Having that flipped as soon as I came here was definitely challenging.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Hawks are clicking early!<br><br>Wani Swaka Lo Buluk finds Gary Clark on the lob and the Hawks are looking for their fifth win in seven games against the Adelaide 36ers! <br><br>Watch the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL</a> live on ESPN! ? <a href="https://t.co/KUxqIH1pRR">pic.twitter.com/KUxqIH1pRR</a></p>&mdash; ESPN Australia &amp; NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ/status/1741354685083079098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“For me, personally, it was very different, but I had no regrets.

“I didn’t have second thoughts at all, I just knew I had to stay with it and just keep improving. I’m more confident now on both sides of the floor.”

Since Tatum’s initiation as interim head coach, the Hawks have climbed as high as fourth in the ladder, but other results in Round 15 have pushed them back into sixth position.

Tatum’s role in the foundation club’s resurgence has had experts and fans calling for the American to continue in the role come season’s end.

Hw has, at the time of writing, masterminded seven victories from 10 games at the helm of a side that had won just three games the season prior, and two of its first nine games in NBL24.

Swaka Lo Buluk says there’s still improvement to come from the energised Hawks group.

“We still think we’ve got a long way to go,” he continued. “We had those blowout wins, but it’s the ugly games [where we’ve improved].

“We know we can fight back and we just trust in the system, we believe in each other, we trust each other.

“It’s not to say we didn’t before, but it’s just a lot different now. We’ve still got a lot of stuff to improve on. We feel really good about ourselves ... I know for sure we’re ready for whatever comes our way.”

Illawarra next takes to the floor on Thursday night against Cairns.