Hawks trigger debate in exporting bench to avoid ‘Tassie curse’
Mo to their corner.
He said with the starting five not travelling to Tassie, it was an opportune time for the bench boys to put to use all that time invested in scrimmages throughout the season.
“I think it’s a bit of a payment for them to showcase what they can do.”
Perhaps what piques the interest is how the players measured up on the spirit level of the officials.
Senior NBL whistle blower Melony Wealleans, with the backing of umpires Hamish Dale and Rhys Hamilton, had pinged players on both sides.
The “who-what?” look is a given for the most part of the season but did it worry the players with the Final Four around the corner?
“We can’t be talking too much about the officials because they’ll do what they do, so at the end of the day, if they make a call that’s what it is,” Bartlett said. “We have to move on to pick up the next play.”
He said all they could do was seek advice on what the wplayers could do to iron out creases in their template.
Wilkins echoed Bartlett’s sentiments, emphasising the officials were human and prone to errors but were doing a fine job this winter.
Hawks board chairman Keith Price had at halftime presented a plaque to Bay referee Apai Apai for having officiated 100 NBL games.
Wilkins said the visitors had taken the encounter seriously and felt they had a lot to work on despite beating a gestating Hawks earlier in the season in Christchurch.
“We have to guard one on one,” said the 23-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia. “We have got to pick up our rebounding but, you know, we have to give them some credit because they are one hell of a team.”
Wilkins said the Rams needed to lift their defensive game.
Bowman added to his doubledouble tally with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
For the Rams, Cam Gliddon scored 15 points and claimed eight rebounds off the boards while Naar added 14 points to the cause.
Former Hawks guards Luke Aston and Tony Tolovae contributed seven points each but you somehow got the impression they were trying not to peak that night.
Kiwi NBL teams who have boarded multiple flights to Launceston have dubbed the away trip as the “Tassie Curse”.
Injured Hawk James Levings will travel as coach in place of Coronel and assistant coach Morgan Maskell, who will remain with their starting five here.
Coronel told NBL, with the playoff positions unlikely to change, they had deemed it prudent to send a development squad to Launceston to enable their heavy-minute players to recover for the Final Four.
Levings had made a request from his hospital bed to mentor the second-string Hawks shortly after dislocating his ankle during practice.
“James quite simply wanted to continue to contribute any way he could and, with a promising future as a coach, he will be of great value in this endeavour,” Coronel said.
NBL general manager Justin Nelson said while the Hawks’ stance wasn’t ideal, it was within the rules and understandable why they were doing it.
However, Nelson said the NBL was drafting new rules to ensure that wouldn’t happen again.
“I think there are a mixture of things that have led to the Hawks making this decision, such as the schedule, the uneven nature of the competition and the rules that at the moment allow for this sort of thing to occur.
“They have done nothing wrong whatsoever,” he said.
Nelson said work was under way “behind the scenes” to maintain a competitive edge to the NBL to prevent a “two-speed league”.
The impending new rules will prevent teams from playing away games with fewer than nine players.
“The Hawks have done nothing outside the rules and I dare say that any other team in their situation would do the same but that doesn’t mean it won’t be fixed, because it will,” Nelson said.
“To have the Huskies finish the season with their last two home games played against extremely understrength opponents is not want we want to see and tighter rules are on the way.”
■ Hawks to Tasmania: Nick Fee (guard), Everard Bartlett (guard), Jamal Mikaio (forward), Darryl
Jones (forward), Clifton Bush III (forward).
Bench: Dominic McGovan (guard), Ryan Laumatia (guard), Jacob Nahora (forward).
Coach: James Levings.
Manager: Kerry Raynor.