For a bit of fun I'll put my prediction out now- Cairns by 1 with a Taran Armstrong game winner

No Gak or Waardenburg tonight, and Groves a gametime decision. If he doesn't play the Taipans will have no centre, and 6'8 Galloway will be their tallest player.

Hawks frontcourt is set for a field day

100-1 on a Cairns by 1/Armstrong 20+ double. Can't get on him for the game winner though :)

Groves available. Oncemore I'll drop my prediction- taipans by 1, Armstrong hits the game winner :)

Poor end to the qtr, but they're not looking too bad so far.

That's not a foul by Grove, let them play a bit.

Why does everyone bail out Tres Kell111. He has a slow first step so they should be able to play better defence. The umps are quick to gift anything for him. Doesn't matter who he is playing

Still in it. Need to come out firing though, can't fall any further behind.

Is Scott butler for real?? I don't even barrack for these teams

And Hickey wins Bonehead Play of the Year...

And the taipans are back in front!

Giving up 32 in 8 mins to the taipans is actually ridiculous

A 40 point quarter for cairns (not a typo) and they lead by 8 with a quarter to play.

If nothing else, Forde certainly hasn't lost the team...

It's laughable, hawks got improve there D. It’s all run and gun, sometimes you have to slow down and run something. To many easy turnovers as well.

Thought Swaka was more unbalanced th than flopped.

Should've just called a block

And another soft foul called on Groves...

Unlucky cairns, they've fought hard, shots missing at the wrong time

Unlucky cairns, they've fought hard, shots missing at the wrong time

Oh my!

Edwards goes BANG

What a dumb turnover by Hickey

wow!

Armstrong superb basketball IQ

Taran milked that, shouldn't have been a foul.

Have Illawarra gone full ret**d???

2 of the dumbest decisions to end the game!

Amazing stuff

Well, I was half joking when I said cairns by 1 with an Armstrong game winner.

Cairns by 3 with Armstrong hitting 3 game winning FTs.

Can't get much better :)

Hickey single handedly lost this for Hawks. His unnecessary unsportsmanlike foul followed by the dumbest turnover I've ever seen a professional make.

Amazing effort by Forde and the boys. With all the injuries and illnesses played right to the last play.

That was pretty hilarious

Word14 - you have to change your name to Nostradamus

We'll take that - and Brad Rosen's comment that we haven't lost a game this year :)

Yep. Undefeated in 2025!

Tremendous effort by Cairns.
The league has really thrown up some interesting results lately. No way did I see this one coming. I was happy just for this one to be competitive. Looked all set for a very respectable road loss until Hickey stepped in and flipped the script.

Haha love it Damo. Gonna go quiet on making any more predictions now, but I'll see if I can replicate it some time

Batman sure is a baller. If he doesn't go to the NBA will surely be getting marquee level offers in free agency.

Armstrong and Edwards were the hero's late, but here is a Higgins-Titsha appreciation comment. Huge tonight, got a great NBL career ahead

While Hickey plays super hard and defends extremely well his low iq and inability to shoot limits his ceiling.

Armstrong will be on a two way or with a big money team next season.

@word14

Feel free to give us tomorrow night's lotto numbers first :)

Yes I also thought hilarious, lol. Hickey is a superb athlete but does some dumb stuff. Groves has been good all season, both other imports played well which they have not done most season. Armstrong huge, also been inconsistent throughout season, Adnam had one off his better games, again not often enough. Peatling and Froling not great today, as I've said hawks got learn to change the pace of the game, you just can’t always go fast, settle it down. Good luck to Forde, he probably deserved that.

15, 27, 31, 33, 34, 38, 44

:)

Love the result. Surprised that the Hawks bigs weren't as dominant as I expected them to be.

Word just take the cairns player numbers

Anon, can't argue with that idea!

Fucking pathetic. Hawks have been drinking their own bath water. Hickey ought to be suspended for that performance. Lee too. Fucking yuck.

I said after the SEM game that there was no need to panic.

It's now panic time.

Let's see how the Hawks regroup from whatever that was tonight when they play the Jackies next game.

We done Cairns. What a turnaround.

Hawks just let them do whatever they wanted. 40 points in the 3rd quarter. From a team that lost 15 in a row. It was an inexcusable performance. Absolutely shameful. I've never seen such complacency. Hickey’s fucking awful. Olbrich should just fucking go. Wtf is he good at? He’ll never be anything but an average NBL player, like Peatling.

But Hickey, wow. He really needs to be punished for that somehow. Fucking disgusting. I had so much hope this season. I can’t believe how badly they’re letting everyone down. As if you’d lose to Cairns. Yuck!

"Olbrich should just fucking go. Wtf is he good at? He'll never be anything but an average NBL player"

The guy just scored 15 points @ 87% in 19 minutes but he is just an average player..... good one clown!

Olbrich is like Hickey, except worse. An exceptionally dumb player who misses layups, misses free throws and only occasionally does what you hope he will. He's one of the reasons Hawks won’t go far in the finals.

Far out, that loss really hurts. If it was anyone else, you could rationalise, but Cairns after they’ve lost 15 in a row at home. It’s just devastating.

It's laughable, hawks got improve there D.

Agreed PW

If the Hawks like dumb players, perhaps they could re-sign Sam's brother, would be a perfect fit :)

@ PW agreed, tomorrow v SEM could tell us a lot.

"I said after the SEM game that there was no need to panic. It's now panic time."

Except it's completely not! Hawks aren't a dominant team in this competition, they've just been doing a really good job of executing and playing at high intensity.

If they're a little off in those areas, like they have been the past couple of games, they're a middle of the road side.

Can hawks grind out a win is the question imo. United, JJs and possibly kings can.

So uh, do I see the clip correctly, did Hickey foul the transition hard and then kick the player whilst down?

Is that what got referred to the GRP?

I would not call it kick, his leg deliberately move towards his calf, barely touched him. It was stupid but hardly malicious.