Loyal servant of the club I think it's a good signing especially to lead the Hawks younger players

Nice to see guys that can play their entire career with the one team
and yes, I think he still has something to give.

But if this is the big announcement they have been hyping, then they've got problems

Coenraad was signed a number of weeks ago, but the Hawks didn't want their first signing announcement to be a returning player.
There's no hyping or mentions of signings outside of Stratford's twitter account, which hasn't mentioned anything big.

Hawks average? Ummm...before last season they had an SF and GF appearance, and with a widely understood tighter budget team.

Can I ask what would be considered as good?

The Hawks have made the playoffs 5 out of the last 9 seasons with this average core. The grand final twice. Seeing as we're in a 8 team league, that averages out to above mean.

AJ had injuries last season.

I thought they had a better squad last season than the year before.

Rotnei = Rotnei
Conger > Marvelle Harris.
Johnson = Holyfield.

Aussie core stayed about the same, but the big improvement was Conger over Marvelle.

2 things worked against the Hawks.

1) The league really improved in talent.
2) There may have been morale issues stemming from how Ellis was treated by management above Bevo.

Anon #687326, you do realise who the moderator of this forum is? Isaac, you are a better man than me for not jumpin in on that comment.

A lot of people rubbish the likes of Illawarra and Cairns for the lack of talent on their rosters, taking little into account in terms of the lack of funds available to those teams in comparison to the likes of Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It's hard to put a really good roster together on peanuts, as the defections of the likes of Gliddon, Weeks, Kay and Norton this season alone has testified.

As for taking a risk and unearth new local talent, do you have any suggestions as to whom? Do you think there are basketball prodigies out there, lining up to play NBL, that nobody else knows about?

I think the NBL teams have a pretty good idea of who is about, and whether they have a shot at NBL careers. Those that do, usually get either a DP position or a roster spot somehere along the line.

Ogilvy already had a contract. Then they signed a guy out of college who broke his college's records. Then they bring back a reasonable contributor from past years with no designation of how much he’d play. Not the worst of starts. Who are they meant to be unearthing if not getting a guy like Naar?

the Wildcats were 10 points better than the Hawks in 2017. The Hawks were lucky to reach that grand final.

A very good signing I said earlier in the offseason I would've loved it if we picked Coenraad up he's reliable and every now and then wins you a game himself.

Good to see him staying at the Gong when a few years ago they were seemingly ready to move on from him. Hopefully a similar thing happens with Garlepp at the Kings.

The Hawks have made the playoffs 5 out of the last 9 seasons with this average core. The grand final twice. Seeing as we're in a 8 team league, that averages out to above mean.

Yes, and Black Americans really loved their President. Things change!

Hawks made the GF in what was only the first season of the new rules (or lack thereof). And they only made it because:
Gaze can't coach,
Demopolopolis count't coach NBL,
and Joey tanked then had some kind of psychotic break-down.

Without Joey tanking after wrapping up top spot, Hawks would not have even made the finals.

Simple fact remains that every team will need to take another step up next season, to compete against the Super-Kings, and so far all the Hawks have done is gone backwards.

Prior to the brave new world, the Hawks bargain-basement team was a matter of degree. They were probably not far off salary wise, lacked a lot of benefits, and made up some ground with Culture and a good coach.
Now, its chalk and cheese.

Also need to wonder how many times they can keep finding stars, like Conger, without the budget of other teams.

I still think the Hawks make a pretty big mistake bringing back the vast majority of the 2017 GF team last season. They were pretty fortunate to make the GF as it was and got a big helping hand from the 36ers and especially Randle in getting there.

It was clear last season a number of guys on their roster were either done or no longer up to it in Martin, White, Ellis & Forman and I think a bit of crossing their fingers and hoping for another minor miracle took place. Conger was certainly an upgrade on Harris but with the large drop off in contributors too much was left to too few. Ogilvy was exposed when more was expected of him.

A bit of a clean slate is what is needed now and with Kay & Norton departing that direction has been forced on the Hawks but re-signing a reliable contributor in Coenraad who can still occasionally step up when the others go missing is a positive in what is hopefully a younger and more exciting Hawks team better suited to Bevo's up tempo style.

Coenraad showed enough last season to deserve another contract.

Find it really hard to believe AJ is ok $400k, considering he signed a long term deal before all the crazy money started flying around.

I am happy that Timmy Coenraad is still going around. To me he and Jesse Wagstaff epitomise that 2009/2010 season where they were both rookies and Perth and Wollongong (as they still were then) weren't expected to win anything and two of the greatest coaches of the last 10 years (Bevo and Gordie) overperform with young squads.

Bevo has proven himself again, and again, and again.

Hawks will be competitive.

It's really interesting because the Kings are shaping up to have a ridiculous roster but they have an unproven coach.

Cairns are more of a worry. Kelly is unproven. Lost their two best Aussies. Jawai really needs to stay fit and get going.