SUccess On THe rOaD

Illawarra press nBL on travel nightmare

WINNING on the road is usually one of the toughest aspects of pro sports but NBL clubs made it look easy in Round 1.

In a league where away victories are notoriously hard to come by, visiting sides won the opening six games for the first time in NBL history.

The Perth Wildcats and Angus Brandt (right) bucked the rare trend on Sunday afternoon as they belted a tired Illawarra squad. THE NBL has assured the Illawarra Hawks that it will address the conditions in which teams travel interstate.

The Hawks are 0-2 after arguably the toughest possible schedule to start the new season. They hosted the reigning champions, Melbourne United, on Friday before having to fly to Perth to face the Wildcats on Sunday.

Making matters worse was that they lost to Melbourne by one point after an extraordinarily draining four periods of overtime.

Making matters even worse was the Hawks players travelled to Perth in economy class and none of them were given the benefit of the extra leg room that exit rows provide.

The Hawks are again away on Sunday to Cairns and coach Rob Beveridge says his side will need every day of the week between games to prepare.

“We’ll get home about 8.30 tomorrow night (Monday), with the three-hour time difference,” he said.

“Once we hit Sydney, we have another couple of hours before we get home. We have to jump on a bus to get there.

“Tuesday will be a complete mental day for these guys – they need to have the day off.

“Then travel Saturday up to Cairns. It’s another big trip up there.”

Beveridge said he remembered thinking the schedule was ridiculous when it was released. When the Hawks arrived in to Perth for Sunday’s game, the club contacted the NBL to address the travel concerns and were told a better effort would be made in future.

That’s what the coach expects from his players as well.

“We have to lick our wounds. Get our body right,” he said. “It’s important that we don’t take this loss to heart.”