Cooks Bites The Bullet On Dribbling

Illawarra Mercury

Tuesday September 25, 2007

Basketball with Tim Keeble

THE Wollongong Hawks conjured up their own brand of netball yesterday at the Snakepit.

Anticipating a fierce defensive onslaught in Friday's home clash with Brisbane, Hawks coach Eric Cooks is taking all steps to ensure his side knows what to expect from the NBL titleholders.

He banned dribbling for most of yesterday's three-hour training session and placed the emphasis squarely on passing.

Players occasionally forgot the rule, but Cooks felt the unusual exercise was highly worthwhile.

"No dribbling is something I've always liked. It takes away from your individual instincts and makes you play like a team," he said.

"Brisbane's defensive pressure is a big key. They get a lot of offence off easy baskets because of opportunities created through their defence.

"They get in your face and up in the lanes, they move their feet well and there's a lot of talk, so it's important that we can execute our stuff under that type of pressure.

"That's why I wanted us to go through it today without dribbling. If we can execute without dribbling, we'll have a good chance of getting through it on Friday."

Disappointed as they were to lose weekend road games against Adelaide and Melbourne, the Hawks believe they can defy the odds and kickstart their season with a win over the Bullets.

Brisbane got their title defence under way with last week's away win over Gold Coast.

Cooks is hoping Friday's refereeing is consistent.

"We didn't get many calls over the weekend, especially close calls, and that's probably to be expected on the road," he said.

"It'll probably be physical and hopefully a few more calls might go our way, but if we don't get the calls, we have to be strong and play through it."

© 2007 Illawarra Mercury

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