Announcement cannot come any earlier than the 2 June which is actually next week. As of today the 25th May Creditors are yet to see a DOCA.... therefore how can we vote on something moving forward when we don't know what the offer is. News reports mention the ALL creditors will be paid, however I am sure the devil is in the detail as with TOWNSVILLE, where creditors will only be paid once the club turns profitable and to be honest the best the regional teams could hope under the current league, TV deal and structure is to break even. So meaning club never makes a profit..... Creditors never get paid and club runs into financial problems again in the future and the merry go round continues. I wish the team all the best but I think it is irresponsible and not good business ethics to announce the team is back in when they have not yet been given the green light by the people whom they owe money too..

Anyway just IMO, but good luck to them

Fully agree @Gongski...I, too, am a creditor hopeful of a positive outcome, but do wonder how much longer Hawks can expect their fans & business partners to prop up this venture !

the best the regional teams could hope under the current league, TV deal and structure is to break even.

Further to my comment above..... just had confirmation that the club is in the process of registering a new entity and ownership structure & securing a new licence from the NBL allowing them to wipe the slate clean of their current financial obligations....and start YET again!!!

The DOCA to be presented will be of benefit ONLY to staff and players for entitlements it will not include ALL creditors as the story on ABC local suggests and does not propose a payment plan to creditors. So yet another misrepresentation of facts from reporters

So how can a club continually hold its hand out to local business and supporters / fans.... burn them by not paying their bills but start a new entity so they can escape their obligations. Local business should NOT be supporting this type of behaviour to their fellow small business owners

Trading whilst insolvent seems like a good option to me.... maybe Mr Spenceley with his current problems with TPG and their blocking of his bid to buy-out Amcor is feeling some karma!!! and ASIC on his case.....might just be what he needs. Yet another entrepreneur who thinks it might be fun to own a sporting team.... doesn't do his / her due diligence and then shuts up shop 2 months into the season and says no more money and then claims the money he purchased the team with was always a loan. Maybe Mr Spenceley, Mr Tinkler and Mr Johnston could suit up next season as part of a starting 5.... Just a thought but it would be funny.

gongski said "News reports mention that ALL creditors will be paid"

Didn't see that in the news report at all, what it actually said was "ALL employee super and benefits would be paid" which to me implies that unsecured creditors are not getting paid.

gonski said ...
"I think it is irresponsible and not good business ethics to announce the team is back in when they have not yet been given the green light by the people whom they owe money too"

I also didn't see anything from the club or the media saying "they are back / have the green light" what the news report said was "expected to be voted for" that is very different and reasonable given most people/creditors want the players and staff to have a job and the NBL to have a team. There wasn't anything from the GM or Club saying anything like that, in fact the GM said "so I'm hopeful we'll see a positive outcome for the club"

Gongski you seem like a bitter old man poking at the club, you say you wish them nothing but good luck but you've done nothing but try hard to drag them down on this board.

Why don't you do everyone who wants a team in Wollongong a favour and just stop posting your negative and misleading comments designed to get people off side with the club.

Pay Gongski the $X he is owed and Im sure he will go away.

Until then he is owed money due to supporting a sporting club that's management/owners are ducking and weaving and trying to move forward without paying what they owe.

Id say he has every right to say whatever the hell he wants!

gongski you are owed money from the hawks and the hawks are owed money from wollongong coal, that doesn't seem like spencely's fault, or that he/they are ducking and weaving and somehow getting some benefit out of this.

the team was a basket case when he took over, anyone connected with club knew it was mismanaged and there was more debt when he took over from the incompetent community board that ran it into the ground, he took that mess on and then had the major income from the sponsor not pay, what about this is the about bad karma for spencely?

seems like the mess was created before him and he was hit with a loss of the biggest income stream, doesn't sound like entrepreneur dodgy and weaving.

You comments aren't reasonable and aren't helpful, he is the only chance the town has of keeping his team, I for one am behind him and the hawks all the way !

It's an invidual business decision to extend credit to an entity, sporting or not, and with that comes weighing up the risk involved.

If gongski or any other Illawarra business decided to give the hawks credit there is always a risk given the market that they operate in & their track record that they do not pay their bill, just like anyone else.

I agree that bagging the club & owner for doing what they are legally entitled to do is completely unhelpful, and those who feel hard done by should have a look at themselves the way they choose to manage the risk of default on debts.

^ Well said Sam

Anon #529787

"If the shoe was on my foot I would be bitter too cause in small business, some business go under because others don't pay their debts."

Good point, this is why the Hawks ended up in the situation because Wollongong Coal didn't pay their bill !

fingers cross all is voted for and we get our 8th team back !

good luck hawks !

Pigs Arses!
I'm with gonski.
Last thing the league needs is this type of disreputable crap:
Live on other people's money, go bust, don't pay your bills, reinvent yourself as a new entity, rinse and repeat. Frankly, that's the very definition of scum-sucking leeches.
As mentioned, it would also seem that they have been trading whilst insolvent, which is an offence, and should lead to the directors being banned.

The additional problem is that once AGAIN they are sticking out their hands, asking local business to support them, after they've just finished burning a bunch of local business and defaulting on their debts. Furthermore, I can't imagine many of those businesses in the Illawarra region are that flash with cash to begin with.

As for blaming Wollongong Coal, again pigs arses. If you run a business (or buy a house or car) YOU are responsible for your debts. Period. End of story.

I'm all for "supporting the Hawks" bu the last thing this league needs is more pissant half-arsed attempts at running a team.
If its choice between a 6-team league, where you play every other team 6 times, but they'll all reasonably stable,
OR an 8-team league that could fall apart at a moments notice because teams are living on other peoples' money, then I vote for the former.

"the team was a basket case when he took over, anyone connected with club knew it was mismanaged and there was more debt when he took over from the incompetent community board that ran it into the ground."

In fairness, the club wasnt exactly humming when the previous board took over either.