Defence the key for Hawks

The Wollongong Hawks have been hard at work breaking down their own defensive schemes to help patch up their leaky defence ahead of their clash with the Perth Wildcats on Friday.

The Hawks, who are surrendering 108 points per game, have been critically cross-examining and challenging their defensive sets over the past week in order to stop the bleeding.

"We're trying to pick it apart find our where the breakdowns are so we can stop it and work on it," Hawks centre Larry Davidson said.

"Especially with our press, before this week we really hadn't worked on it a whole lot and we're going to look to put it in more in games."

The match-up against Perth is shaping up as a highly physical encounter with the Hawks intent on making amends, while the Wildcats are known to throw their weight around to gain an advantage.

Davidson, who isn't afraid to mix it up in the paint, is looking to be the catalyst and set a firm foundation for his team.

"I'm the biggest guy on the team so it does start with me trying to get physical with their bigs," he said.

"It makes it a lot easier for our guards if I'm able to push their bigs out and they can't set screens or get seals in the post."

"We're focusing on coming out physical at the start, last game over there, we we're down 22-2, which isn't acceptable."

"Even last game (against South Dragons) we came out soft, we've been working on coming out hard from the start."

"Win or lose, we're focusing on playing hard for the whole 48 minutes."

Shawn Redhage is one Wildcat capable of testing Wollongong's resolve after scorching the Hawks for 29 points in their previous meeting.

"His energy is ridiculous, he just doesn't stop at all, the main thing with him is if we match his energy and effort then that kind of shuts down a lot of his stuff," Davidson said.

"He gets a lot from offensive boards, loose balls and just working hard he gets a lot of points from that."