Massive crunch game for us. Both teams are struggling like a kid with learning difficulties trying to do year 12 maths.

Once again the rotations are the key to the success. Creek is the red headed stepson this year. 10 mins is not enough if fully fit. Weigh will start and chew up minutes like a fat kid at a smorgasbord. Herbie seems to play his best when things are tight, the Ninja when we just need a score to get us up again, or get some momentum, and Daly did a pretty good job last game.

Helliwell is the worry though. I believe it is in instruction rather than skill level. With such a man mountain on the team, his strengths aren't getting exploited. The Sixers need to use him more effectively. All players are "tools" and Marty is the "tradesman". You don't see too many tradies using their jackhammers for drilling holes. IMO Helliwell's talents aren't getting used.

For the Horks, Oscar is still my favourite. Able to do almost everything, expect a great game from him. Martin is playing like a man possessed. Catron is another unit to watch out for. While Campbell and Saville are down a bit this season against their career expectations, both men know how to play and are patient men in the tight games.

Sixers SHOULD win, but this could be another game where they invent another way to give their opposition an away win.

Sadly I like the hawks in a scrappy close one. Simply put, they are better coached and believe in their system more than us.

You obviously never saw the Hawks game last weekend to make that statement Kobe. I would normally agree with you but the Hawks are playing so poorly and the 36ers have a far superior lineup. In fact I cant see man for man where the Hawks have an advantage in any position. Surely even Clarke can't stuff this game up. 36ers are specials in this game for mine.

Man, I would love to see us win in a blowout at home. I can't recall the last time that happened.

Starters likely to be Warren, Creek, Weigh, Simpson and Johnson. On-court captaincy to be shared between Weigh and Warren:

The NBL still enforces an archaic rule which says every team must have a "game night captain" and that player also must be in the starting five. While Ballinger and Crosswell will maintain their leadership roles off the floor, Adelaide is required to name an on-court leader pre-match. While Nathan Herbert and Darren Ng have seniority, the qualification the captain "has to start" means the 36ers are limited to selecting each week between Warren and Weigh.

"It would help Steve's development as a leader and it would help Chris' development as a point guard," Clarke said, saying the decision would largely be made on a game-by-game basis.

Also, on Creek seeing more time:

"Mitch will get to play more," Clarke said, pointing to his young gun's diminished minutes this season in a deeper line-up which also includes Perth championship small forward Stephen Weigh.

"The other upside will be Steve having to become more multi-purpose and play some time at four (power forward)."

Many of Weigh's potential power forward match-ups - such as Mika Vukona (Breakers), Tommy Greer (Tigers), Oscar Forman (Hawks), Mark Worthington (Blaze) or Elvin Mims, Jacob Holmes (Crocodiles) - would be within his capabilities.

whos been the captain for the last couple of games then. Neither ballinger or crosswell have started..

Crosswell has started a the SG for at least the last 4 games, but why can't you make Ng Captain and Weigh VC. I don't know how true this rule is, because even if your Captain is struggling does that mean you still have to start him. I would like to see where it states this in the NBL guidelines

Sixers should win this. If they don't Clarke should start packing his bags straight after the game. No more excuses for him. Sixers have a much more talented team then the Hawks and are playing at home.

Crosswell has been starting so he has been captain.

"Many of Weigh's potential power forward match-ups - such as Mika Vukona (Breakers), Tommy Greer (Tigers), Oscar Forman (Hawks), Mark Worthington (Blaze) or Elvin Mims, Jacob Holmes (Crocodiles) - would be within his capabilities."

Boti are you kidding me? Weigh would get destroyed by all those players (besides Forman whom prefers to camp at the 3 point line) in the post!

It doesnt, not sure where BN got that from

Destroyed by Greer and Holmes!!! Really????
Pretty sure Greer couldn't "DESTROY" Warren in the post. Not sure why Rush isn't starting for Tigers over Greer.

Worthinton and Vikona for sure, Mims maybe but he seems more of jumpshooter in the games I have seen on TV

Maybe because Greer is captain and they have to start him :-)

If the 6ers don't win this one you may aswell start production on your wooden spoon cabinet now..

Also lol at the weigh PF match ups.. I wouldn't say he is capable of defending any of them

great to see Creek get the start, his mins have been disappointing lately, he adds alot to the team with his effort an athleticism hope he can impress with this opportunity

For anyone particularly nervous about the 36ers' prospects in this one, the Hawks are paying a little over $3 with Centrebet.

Anyone nervous about our prospects know that this is the league's youngest starters that can step way up
and make a few mistakes.

Is this game one ONE, or are they going the cheap route taking the SKY TV game from NZ?

No Sky games on One this season

NBL's by the numbers for this game:

It's a battle of the cellar-dwellers as the last-placed Hawks visit the eight-ranked 36ers on Friday night. This will be the second time they have played this season, with the Hawks snaring the win in Round Two, 97-89 at The Sandpit in Wollongong.

In that game, Mat Campbell, Rhys Martin and Oscar Forma all had 16 points for the Hawks, while Chris Warren led the 36ers with 25 points. Adelaide and Wollongong will also play again in Round 22 in Adelaide and Round 25 in Wollongong.
Both these sides are currently on losing streaks, although one will have snapped theirs by then end of the game. The Hawks have dropped three straight games while Adelaide are in the midst of a two-match skid.

Wollongong are just 2-3 on the road this season but that is actually better than their home record of 1-5. The 36ers record at home and away is identical, and they have won just once from six games played at home this season. The 36ers need to win five more home games this season from the eight still remaining to avoid breaking the Adelaide club record for the least home wins in a regular season. That record currently stands at six, set back in 1992.

This will be the 85th meeting of these sides dating back to the 1982 season, with the 36ers holding a 52-32 edge in the all-time head-to-head. The 36ers also have a handy 32-8 lead in games played against Wollongong in Adelaide.

The 36ers largest ever victory in an NBL game was actually against the Hawks back on 20 July 1985. In that game, the 36ers destroyed Wollongong by 75 points, 156-81, before an ecstatic home crowd. That remains as the second largest win ever in NBL history, behind only the 88-point victory of Coburg over the Sydney Supersonics on 6 May 1984.

pretty sure our home and away record is not exactly the same

I misinterpreted it on the first read too. I think they mean it's the same as the Hawks' - 1-5 at home, 2-3 on the road.

So this game is on ONE then?

According to my EPG it is the One game

Okay thanks. NBL.com.au has been screwy about it all week, for the most part they had it as the "SKY" game, then switched it to the NZ game and just left the coverage blank.

Big Sexy - I have never seen the NBL playing rules and, AFAIK, they aren't on the web. BJF - if you know where we can get a look at them, it would be good to know. The NBL Media Guide is on teh web but doesn't cover this sort of technical detail.

However, FIBA rules require a captain to be on the court at all times. When the team's captain leaves the court, an on court captain is supposed to be nominated. That's to cover things like the ball being tipped through the basket by a defender - the points are awarded to the on court captain of the offensive team - and some other roles and powers.

The rule referred to by Boti would relate to these FIBA requirements, in some derivative way.

What a shame the Cns vs nz isn't the tv game.

The whole captaincy thing makes me cringe. Greer should not be captain & Clarke continues to have no idea about anything! I know i bash him a lot but he is not even close to proving me wrong!!

The captain has to start? Back to AIS buddy!!

Orbit - I think you will find Boti said that not Clarke.

You know how i feel, I Believe ;-D

Ditto that TBE!!!

http://theusagetv.org/broadcast/14/36/343736/watch-adelaide-36ers-wollongong-hawks.html

Sixers playing better defense already

good start to the game.

The injuries may be a blessing in disguise as it forces clarke to play a 8 man rotation and give Creek more time.

Hope we can continue this and win!

Now that's better.
Simpson has 8 points/3 Boards.

Has a break for the last 2 minutes of the first.

If the Coach brings him straight back for the start of the second then he finally has worked out to play your good imports for at lease 32-33 minutes per game.

Gee back in the day Rob Rose would get pissed if he didn't play 48 minutes

Not at the game, but I wonder where Daniel Johnson's 3 point range has come from?

Jonno, are you at the game?

Simpson start's the second :-)

no unfortunatly watching online

Weigh has just sat on the bench for 7 straight minutes and Creek has not even picked up many extra minutes.

WOW

Someone wants to keep there job

D Simpson - where does he rate as the best ever imports play for the 6rs, potentially very very very high based on the blistering super consistent season he is putting together. Love to see him locked into a long time contract if at all possible. Captain too.

Agreed with Simpson, i hope the club have put a offer to him aswell as Creek and Johnson, the spare money from Ballinger being off contract should help.

If we can build around those 3 plus Weigh and Warren (or another import guard) things will be looking up very soon for the 36ers franchise.

Simpson C
Weigh PF
Creek SF
Johnson SG
Warren PG

would have won plenty more games, what were ya thinking Marty lol

How about
1. Warren
2. Creek
3. Herbert
4. Johnson
5. Simpson
------
Ng in for Creek
Weigh in for Herbert
the other 3 bench players 1-2 minutes per q for Warren, Johson & Simpson

WTF have you done with the Sixers?

nah I'd have Johnson @ SG lol, Simpson is playing like a beast

D Simpson puttin' on a clinic .... again !!!!!

it could almost be a blessing in disguise that balls is out now. it shows the points and money could probably be better spent. im a big ballinger fan but considering his form, he is costly. and simpson is just a machine

My point is I prefer Herbert than Weigh in the starting 5

Remember, they are playing the Hawks tonight

Yeah i like your rotation, i would still start Weigh, but definatly play him less minutes and Herbert and Creek a few more.

I know its only the Hawks who are bottom of the ladder (the only team below us), but i hope this shows Marty we only need 8 man rotation, especially with a young team they should be able to log good minutes.

I hope next year they sign 8 main guys and 2 minimum guys, with the 8 main guys playing atleast 90% of the minutes.

Ballinger being off contract should help us with cap room to re-sign Simpson, Johnson and Creek. I would offer Ballinger a new deal but reduced greatly in minutes and he plays 15-20 mins a game off the bench backing up Pf and C.

I would basically keep our main 8, its a good young core and guys like Johnson, Simpson, Creek, Warren, Weigh will be some of the top players for years to come, and Herbert is a solid role player and Ballinger and Crosswell can give us some experience off the bench.

If Ng and Helliwell accept minimum $$ and minutes, i dont mind them staying, if not give those spots to young guys like Daly or guys doing well in ABA/SEABL/NZBL looking for a shot and happy to play the role as 9th and 10th man and prove themselves if they want extra minutes.

I think a rotation of the following would be strong for the next few years and we could still finish the season strong even if we dont make playoffs.

The rotation being

C Johnson (30)/Ballinger (10)
PF Simpson (30)/Ballinger (5)/Weigh (5)
SF Weigh (25)/Creek (15)
SG Creek (15)/ Warren (10)/Herbert (15)
PG Warren (20)/Crosswell (20)

That to me should be a playoff team, and for the next 5-10 years given our young squad.

Johnson and Simpson are great scorers and quicker and more athletic than most opposition they will face and have good complimentary skill sets,

our SF are 2 of the best young ones in the country, if Creek develops a half consistant jumpshot watch out! I would currently get Creek watching video of a guy like Darnell Mee, use him as a defensive stopper and develop a good all round game like Darnell had, then his jumpshot wont be the be all and end all, he can still have a great game without scoring much ala Mee and Damian Martin, Mackinnon, Saville, etc.

our PG combo should be as strong as anyone,

SG is probably our weakest spot but Creek, Warren, Herbert should be able to handle it by comittee and if we have any spare $$ we could possibly look to upgrade our SG, maybe we offer say Newley Ballingers $$$ and see what he says, (if we have enough to re-sign Creek, Johnson, Simpson without spending it) short of that im happy to let Creek, Warren, Herbert share it.

Basically our 9th and 10th man dont play, just in blow outs, foul trouble and injuries, unless they train the house down and earn there spot over one of the main 8.

Its been along time since we have had such a young talented core of players, no matter where we finish this season, we dont need to blow up the roster, which is a nice change especially given some of our old rosters in the past when we had an ageing Timmons, Wheeler, Copeland.

Aslong as they stay competitive and he adjusts his game coaching a bit and retains the young talent he has recruited ie Johnson, Simpson, Creek, this should be enough to keep Clarke for another year, (i know that wont be a popular comment on here).

Clarke has been far from perfect but has done some good things.
1. recruited some of the top young talent including our imports.

2. we are not great defensively but we are a tougher team, we dont back down to physical intimidation against teams such as Perth which some of the past line ups would have.

3. I assume he has contacts with some of the top young aussie talent in college ball, so hopefully we will see some of the top returnees coming to Adelaide if we have the $$ to fit them in. He has already shown this with Creek, Weigh and Johnson 3 of the top young talents in the league, also i imagine Simpson and Warren came through college coach contacts, with Simpson coming from StMarys. Hopefully this continues for years to come. Guys like Goorj and Bevo stay at the top by continuously recruiting the best young talent, Clarke seems to have a good ability to do this, better than Smyth and Ninnis showed.

4. He coaches a high scoring up tempo game, which i personally like from a fans point of view, scoring is no problem, we just need to get a bit better definsively, playing guys like Creek more will help this and guys like Johnson have to continue to work and develop in this area, we dont need to be a great defensive team but atleast a middle of the league level defensive team should have us in the playoffs with our offensive talent.

There are many flaws, including rotations, but if he uses the 8 man rotation i have suggested that will be alot better IMO.

Very dissapointing from Woolongong tonight. Worst I have ever seen them play. They really gave it to us on a platter.
There is no way tonights performance would have been a win against any other side.
It has however given us time to regroup and decide if we are going to source at least one replacement and play seriously or just use a half season to develop the kids. There were a few positives but we were not really challenged.

Don't get too carried away with a win over the Hawks. If anyone noticed last week they are a rudderless rabble at present and are all pretty much down on for and confidence and are playing poorly at either end of the court. Will be a huge challenge to see if they can find something as the season wears on.
The 6ers were good tonight and there are a lot of positive signs but those signs need to be measured against tougher matchups than the one that the Hawks in their current for present.
Simpson is a far better player than what I anticipated he would be after watching plenty of his games for the Gaels. He looks to be one of those guys who have the perfect game for the NBL and I would be getting his signature right now before the Tigers come calling with the checkbook at the end of the season.
Again good win for the 6ers but I doubt they wicomemne up against another team this year who presents them with wide open looks after the 1st or 2nd pass that the Hawks gave them tonight.

Good to see us win but oh my, those Hawks are one terrible unit.
Simpson is a tremoendous asset and DJ's improvement is incredible.
Sadly Creek shoots like a 4 year old, my God I have never seen anyone shoot so many disgusting shots in a game like he did. The rest of his game has promise, but he has a long way to go.

It is good to finally get a decent win for a change. However, you got to feel sorry for the Hawks as they are struggling not being able to pay enough to get decent players. While Catron had a good game I don't think any other team would have him as an import and Glover would struggle at ABA level.

Isn't it funny that we do so well when Weigh doesn't hog the minutes. In the 3rd quarter the Sixers were up by 12 with Hawks with a chance to get back in it and then Weigh goes out for 4 minutes. He comes back on and we are a further 16 points ahead. I'm not saying he is at fault and should never be back on but if he isn't playing well he should have way less minutes and someone else should have a chance. He only played 24 minutes today and should only get that amount of time unless he is playing excellent.

DJ and Simpson had excellent games!

I would have liked Warbout gone onto the the court earlier in the 4 since we were up by 28 to see what he can do. Why didn't we have more development players suit up?

Creek had a bad shooting night going 1-9 but he played some great defence. People have to remember Sam Mackinnon was a horrible shooter but then improved to be the best 3 point shooter in the league. I still don't know why we don't post Creek up when he is matched up on a smaller shooting guard. His whole career he probably has been playing around the basket so why not go to his advantages in offence rather then wasting him out at the 3 point line.

Creek's shooting tonight looked like he had a confidence problem, very tentative. I would be encouraging him to keep shooting and taking the ball inside despite his numbers especially in a game like tonight. When he starts hitting a few his confidence will come quickly I think as he has shown us he can shoot. We have to remember his body has a year or so to grow yet and he will get stronger.

Great win by the team tonight as it will do the players confidence the world of good BUT I wouldn't get carried away. Sure we won by 24 but look at who we beat, Wollongong would have been hard pressed to beat an ABL team tonight and if not for Joevan Catron it would have been a 30+ win.

Saying that though I will say I liked what I saw defensively from the 36ers. They actually look organised and for once I didn't see anyone just dribble past Weigh like he wasn't there.

How would you be huh? Clarke is finally forced to cut Weigh's minutes and Creek, who we seemingly have all been pushing for more time, had a hard time getting the ball in the hoop. 1/9 isn't good for 25 minutes. And was it me or was Weigh limping when he was last subbed off? And I had to do a double take when it was 7:40 into the first before Clarke made a sub, and that was only after Creek committed a silly foul.

On a personal note its nice to know the 36ers think my Yamaha is a 'beautiful bike' hehehe.

Simpson has fast become my favourite player to watch. He needs to get a new stat "How many times he can come over Helliwell and score"

Wollongong were horrible tonight..seriously just horrible. I want to celebrate the win but seriously..what were wollongong trying!! Glover is a joke. Catron could dominate in a decent team I think. Forman possibly had his worst game playing against Adelaide..they just didnt have anything at all.

Creek played well tonight and his Defence was clearly superior to Weighs. For a player who is 19?? he will only get better as this season goes on and his minutes increase.
Warren had some penetrations that I would REALLY like to see him do on a more consistant basis.

Ive said it before but DJ and Simpson need an off season together..Simpson learn to shoot and DJ learn to want the ball like Simpson. DJ has the natural ability Simpson has the can do attitude that makes him succeed.

Holden fair point about Creeks points output but I will accept that if he continues his defensive pressure. His continuous defensive pressure on the ball was excellent and he ended up with 3 steals

A great win, but yeh, let's not too excited, the Hawks were a mess. Their starters contributed 23 points combined! We had 2 guys almost score that on their own. Forman and Davidson normally give us trouble- tonight they were terrible.

Jonno- some ok points but no team stays together for 5-10years these days. Different league than the 90's. Clarke has struggled to bring in the name guys from Europe. Creek was a good get but the only other one was DJ and that's because he was buried on a strong Tigers frontcourt.

King James- Weigh's lack of minutes weren't that directly related to the win. He sat a lot in the 2nd half when the game was done. It is a concern though that in such an easy win he basically contributed nothing besides some free throws. Creek's shooting was awful but he was impressive defensively. I don't like those two on the court at the same time. Tonight I would have preferred a Warren/Ng/Creek/Simpson/DJ starting unit but it ended well anyways.

Herbert has a sneakily good contribution, Simpson had a blinder and DJ was good for half the game (read: one half of the court).

Good to get the win but Hawks were awful. 63pts on 35% shooting with basically nothing from their starters and only 14pts in the paint. They just don't have a dominant scorer outside Catron it seems and 3 of their starters are on the downside or nearing the end of their careers.

I've done a full report at

http://36reasons.blogspot.com/2011/12/review-36ers-v-hawks.html

HoldenV8 I agree Weigh appeared to be limping, his calf is taped and after the game, when he come over to the corner we sit, to thanks the younger ones, he looked in discomfort, not the smiling face you would expect after a much needed win.

Yeah I won't argue about Creek's defense tonight, he earned it out there.

Did someone slip some Valium into OF's water before the game?? He had plenty of the ball when on but in his 20 minutes he had an absolute Barry Crocker.

And Brett Maher tipped the Hawks to win.....

36ers don't need Creek to score. They have enough points in them elsewhere. What they do need is a stopper and he should play that role while he slowly develops his offensive game. He will never be a great scorer and should aim at being a do a bit of everthing player similar to Tovey. Give him the best wing on the opposition and just encourage him to take him out of the game as best he can,get after the boards and not shoot the ball very often.any scoring will be a bonus and then without Weigh taking as many shots with less time it will get more shots for the likes of Simpson, Johnson, Warren and Ng who should take the bulk of the available shots anyway.

There has been nothing wrong with the 6ers offense all season it is their D they need to work on and Creek along with Simpson is arguably their best defender.

The only real complaint I would have with the performance tonight was Diamon Simpson's free throws. Can someone PLEASE teach him how to put some arch into the flight of the ball? Two of his charity shots in the 1st half hit the lower front of the rim for crying out loud. Other than that I couldn't fault his performance tonight at either end of the court.

Its a good thing he is proving to be such a strong player with most other facets of his game because he still struggles when taking free throws. He was 0/3 tonight and none looked like going in.

What price his overall game performance gets him Adelaide's 2nd PotW award for the season? This is his 6th double-double of the season, only 1 behind league leading Julian Khazzouh (who played 2 more games).

Ah there you go, according to Brett Maher on the OneHD replay (3rd quarter), Stephen Weigh was carrying an injury into tonight's game. "Somewhere around the foot" he was told by the coaching staff.

I am exrtremely impressed with Simpson as well. For someone who came into the team with no preseason, he is the most stable, productive, consistent and well balanced team member now. I hope he comes back next season and I hope the 36ers approach him with an open cheque book. I would certainly be giving him the same salary this season plus half of Ballinger's. Only a ridiculous offer overseas which is obviously unsustainable here should stop the 36ers bringing him back.

Sadly the screaming banshee was the guy sitting next to me and his young son. Not knocking them as they were having fun and it was apparently it was just the 2nd time they've been but most of it (in the 2nd half) came from the fact they thought "Wollongong" was spelled wrong on the scoreboard.....

"I hope next year they sign 8 main guys and 2 minimum guys, with the 8 main guys playing atleast 90% of the minutes."

Absolutely agree. I've been banging on about this all off-season like a broken record.

Crowd: 3597 at Adelaide Arena

Somewhat pathetic. I understand it's Friday night (juniors basketball) and Adelaide United were playing...and it was last placed Wollongong, but how often have we had below 4,000 in crowd numbers? Apart from this game, 36ers have had relatively good crowd numbers, especially considering our average season.

Tonight's attendance was our worst crowd since 1 December 2007 when only 3,666 turned up to see us beat the Razorbacks 125-118.

The stadium really did look empty. Funny thing is that most other teams would be thrilled to get that turn out! What do we expect though when the 36ers are playing how they are (with the exception of last night), it being Christmas time and other sports events being on?

there was also soccer on same night, last time that happened we had less then 4000 as well

Most likely I'd have doubled up on Warren , rather than play back in a zone.
The Captain started and got worse as the game went on.
Some good runs , like 14-0 ,when he sat down.
Shouldn't have played.

The crowd wasnt sizeable but theoretically, district was on, a-league was on, school holidays just began, people went away or began going away for the break.

Overall, those who went enjoyed the night me thinks so to those who didnt go or didnt wanna go, they lost out.

Creek needs to get out from under the wing of Clarke, hes just not developing

Look on the bright side with numbers, we got more than can pack into Woollongong, The Cage, and Townsville sowhy the major issue.

It all comes down to winning and if the team had produced 2 home wins more and were sitting just outside the top 4, I'd think we would have had perhaps just over 4500. But, if we lose, money isnt spent.

Mitch Creek dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9llcGzTEjxo

Diamon Simpson dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXd5HSYkR7I

I heard that Cris Warren was the nominated captain, to bring him more out of his shell and to be more outgoing,
but also because they were not sure if Weigh was going to play because of his injured ankle. Weigh had not trained all week.

I heard Weigh was nominated Court Captain at about 6pm
Must've been a late decision to play him , but he was pretty bad out there.
Shouldn't have played , but I mentioned that before.

Seriously disappointing effort from the Hawks. 36ers could only beat who was put in front of them, but I hope they aren't complacent in the next game. Not sure what positives the Hawks are going to take out of this season.

Weigh's injury resulted in less game time hower he's output on the stat sheets over the past 4-5 games has been much the same.

Perhaps Weigh is more efficient when playing 20-25 minutes.

Creek's pressure on Martin was excellent and while his shooting was poor I still felt more compelled to support him taking open shots.

+/- for the game. Simpson's +35 is equal top in the league this year.

Adelaide

• Diamon Simpson (35)
• Daniel Johnson (26)
• Chris Warren (21)
• Nathan Herbert (20)
• Darren Ng (18)
• Mitchell Creek (3)
• Stephen Weigh (2)
• Tom Daly (0)
• Wade Helliwell (-2)
• Jan Warbout (-3)

• Daniel Jackson (3)
• Tyson Demos (-4)
• Larry Davidson (-11)
• Rhys Martin (-11)
• Glen Saville (-13)
• Showron Glover (-13)
• Mat Campbell (-15)
• Tim Coenraad (-15)
• Joevan Catron (-19)
• Oscar Forman (-22)

?We saw 4 qtrs of defence, that's what we wanted to see. But Marty your still a stiff, your 26pts up and you can't put your development player Warbout on with 5 mins to go. Its Christmas Marty Scrooge and your gift to your hardworking player is a measly 2 mins, need to build his confidence incase we have any more injuries..

Warbout came on right at the right time. Last thing you want with 5-6 minutes left is to let up on the pressure and have the Hawks make a 10 point run at you. Then you are down by 10-12 with 3 1/2 minutes on the clock, with the opposition on a roll and feeling it.

Nothing worse for the confidence of a DP in their first minutes in a blowout game to get on with 5-6 minutes left, only to be dragged a couple of minutes later. Good safe move to wait until the game is over.