Rags to riches: How the Illawarra Hawks became NBL champs once more

From the worst campaign in club history to the top of the mountain in two seasons, the rise of the Illawarra Hawks has been truly remarkable, with Sunday's game five a fairytale ending to match.

They might have been this year’s minor premiers, but the Illawarra Hawks were still the ultimate NBL underdogs.

The last bastion of a bygone era and the lone foundation club still in the league. A team kept alive by 2009’s “Save the Hawks” campaign, then entered into administration a decade later. A club that was briefly robbed of its identity, renamed in a bid to appeal beyond their fiercely loyal local fans. A team that contended under legendary coach Brian Goorjian, then sunk to new depths when he left.

There’s a reason this season has meant so much to the people of Wollongong – they lived through all of that and plenty more, and less than 18 months ago, they were still suffering. After the worst season in the club’s history they staggered out of the blocks once again, with a 2-7 start leaving them anchored to the bottom of the ladder and leading them to fire their head coach even without a replacement ready.

“The leadership of the team and the direction the team is taking are the responsibilities of the head coach, and the club must take a different path now, without delay,” Hawks GM of Basketball Mat Campbell said of the decision on November 14, 2023.

Fast forward to Sunday morning, and that new path had led them to the brink of the mountaintop. Former assistant Justin Tatum went from interim head coach, to the permanent head coach, to the NBL’s Coach of the Year; much of the core group that made that horror start to last season remained, and with some tweaks and changes, earned them top spot on the ladder; and after scrapping their way through a tough semi-final series but then losing a pair of Grand Final games at home, they hung tough to force a decisive game five back in Wollongong against Melbourne United.

After decades of hurt followed by a meteoric rise, it all came down to 40 minutes of basketball.