Illawarra Hawks: Five things you need to know

• The Hawks won the NBL25 championship, beating Melbourne United 114-104 in game five
• They finished NBL26 eighth at 13-20 and missed the finals
• Illawarra is the only club to have played every NBL season since 1979

Two NBL titles, the 2025 championship, and a defence that finished eighth. The Hawks, explained.

Illawarra has played every season the NBL has staged, all 48 of them, and won it twice. The Hawks took the second of those in March 2025, and inside twelve months had gone from champions to eighth, while the club's owner tried to organise a buyout of the league itself.

NBL26 SEASON SUMMARY

• Record: 13-20, finished 8th
• Finals: did not qualify
• Head coach: Justin Tatum
• Captains: Sam Froling and Tyler Harvey
• Club MVP: JaVale McGee

Pat Riley's line about repeating being the hardest thing in professional sports got a Wollongong illustration. The Hawks lost Trey Kell III and Darius Days to Japan, Sam Froling to injury, and William Hickey sprained an ankle on Christmas Day. Thirteen wins from 33, seven fewer than the year before from four more games.

NBL25: THE SECOND CHAMPIONSHIP

Illawarra finished the 2024-25 regular season first at 20-9, its only regular season championship. The Hawks beat South East Melbourne 2-1 in the semi-finals and Melbourne United 3-2 in the Championship Series, taking game five 114-104 at the WIN Entertainment Centre on 23 March 2025. William Hickey scored 21.

Justin Tatum was named Coach of the Year. His son Jayson sent the team a message before the game.

THE OWNERSHIP FIGHT, AND HOW IT ENDED

On the eve of that game five, the club's owner moved on the league.

Jared Novelly, the American businessman who chairs Crest Sport and Entertainment, emailed NBL club owners a term sheet proposing that the ten clubs buy the NBL, each taking a 10 per cent stake and a board seat. The Australian reported it on 21 March 2025 as a hostile takeover. Crest said that evening it was "disappointed that a private email circulated to NBL club owners has been made public and inaccurately reported as a 'hostile takeover'", and that the proposal "did not involve a takeover by Crest". Larry Kestelman's answer was four words: "NBL not for sale."

It is settled. Crest lodged a formal complaint about Kestelman, Basketball Australia commissioned an independent investigation by Justin Gleeson SC, and in April 2026 BA cleared him. Gleeson consulted all 10 clubs and found no credible evidence of a code of conduct breach and no evidence that the NBL or the clubs had been disadvantaged.

THE CLUB

• Home: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong, since 1998-99
• Owners: Crest Sport and Entertainment
• General manager: Mat Campbell, whose 32 the club has retired
• Head coach: Justin Tatum
• Captains: Sam Froling and Tyler Harvey

Across 48 seasons Illawarra has played 1,322 regular season games for 621 wins and 701 losses, reaching the finals 24 times and five grand finals. Before 1998 the Hawks played at the 2,000-seat Snakepit Stadium in Gwynneville, which is still the training base and still hosts pre-season games. The record home crowd is 5,839, set on 18 February 2005.

TEAM HISTORY

The club joined the NBL for its first season in 1979 and has not missed one since. Mike Jones won the MVP in 1981. The best of the early years was 1987, third at 20-6 under David Lindstrom, who took Coach of the Year.

In 1998 the club was renamed the Wollongong Hawks and moved into the WIN Entertainment Centre. Three years later came the first championship. Brendan Joyce rebuilt the roster around Glen Saville, the Hawks made the finals fourth, and Saville was Grand Final MVP as they won the 2001 title.

The 2010s were harder off the court than on it. In April 2020 the NBL took back the licence after the club went into voluntary administration, and in May its creditors voted to liquidate it. The league kept it alive, and on 17 June 2020 handed the licence to Dorry Kordahi, Bryan Colangelo and Michael Proctor. Under the new owners the club was renamed simply The Hawks, and it went back to Illawarra Hawks in 2021.

In between, in 2019, Illawarra signed LaMelo Ball as a Next Star. He was Rookie of the Year in 2020 and went third overall in that year's NBA draft.

Then 2025. Illawarra lost the three grand finals it reached after 2001, in 2005, 2010 and 2017, and won the next one.

CLUB LEGENDS

Glen Saville is the club's defining figure: Grand Final MVP in the 2001 championship and the only Hawk to win that award. His 12 is retired.

Mat Campbell captained the 2001 title team, has his 32 retired, and is now the general manager.

Chuck Harmison, Gordon McLeod and Melvin Thomas complete the retired numbers at 4, 5 and 33. Thomas was in the 2001 championship side.

Mike Jones was the NBL's Most Valuable Player in 1981, and Gary Ervin, Rotnei Clarke and Kevin Lisch each won it as Hawks in 2011, 2014 and 2016.

LaMelo Ball played one season, won Rookie of the Year and was drafted third overall. Tyler Harvey and Sam Froling captained the 2025 championship team together and still do.

HONOUR ROLL

• Championships: 2001, 2025
• Grand final appearances: five, in 2001, 2005, 2010, 2017 and 2025
• Finals appearances: 24
• Regular season championships: one, in 2025
• NBL Most Valuable Player: Mike Jones (1981), Gary Ervin (2011), Rotnei Clarke (2014), Kevin Lisch (2016)
• NBL Grand Final MVP: Glen Saville (2001)
• NBL Coach of the Year: David Lindstrom (1987), Alan Black (1993, 1995), Brendan Joyce (1999, 2001), Gordie McLeod (2010, 2014), Justin Tatum (2025)
• NBL Rookie of the Year: Greg Hubbard (1987), Justin Withers (1989), Axel Dench (2001), LaMelo Ball (2020)
• NBL Next Generation Award: Sam Froling (2024)
• Retired numbers: Chuck Harmison (4), Gordon McLeod (5), Glen Saville (12), Mat Campbell (32), Melvin Thomas (33)

THE MODERN ERA, SEASON BY SEASON

• 2019-20 9th 5-23 Matt Flinn
• 2020-21 3rd 20-16 Brian Goorjian, lost the semi-final series to Perth
• 2021-22 2nd 19-9 Brian Goorjian, lost the semi-final series to Sydney
• 2022-23 10th 3-25 Jacob Jackomas
• 2023-24 4th 14-14 Jacob Jackomas, won a play-in game then lost the semi-final series to Melbourne
• 2024-25 1st 20-9 Justin Tatum, NBL CHAMPIONS
• 2025-26 8th 13-20 Justin Tatum

Three wins in 2022-23 and a championship two years later. Whatever else the Hawks are, they are not predictable.

FIVE FAST FACTS

1. Illawarra is the only club to have played in every NBL season, all 48 of them since 1979.

2. The club has had three names: Illawarra Hawks, Wollongong Hawks from 1998, and simply The Hawks under the ownership group that took over in 2020.

3. Glen Saville is the only Hawk to win a Grand Final MVP award, in the 2001 championship.

4. Justin Tatum, the coach of the 2025 championship team, is the father of NBA champion Jayson Tatum.

5. In May 2020 the club's creditors voted to liquidate it. The NBL kept it alive, and five years later it won the championship.

CLUB TIMELINE

• 1979: Joined the NBL for its inaugural season, playing at Snakepit Stadium.
• 1981: Mike Jones won the NBL Most Valuable Player award.
• 1987: Finished third at 20-6, the best of the early years.
• 1998: Renamed the Wollongong Hawks and moved to the WIN Entertainment Centre.
• 2001: First championship, with Glen Saville the Grand Final MVP.
• 2005, 2010 and 2017: Three grand finals reached and lost.
• 2019: Signed LaMelo Ball as a Next Star.
• 2020: Creditors voted to liquidate the club. The NBL kept it alive and new owners took the licence in June.
• 2025: Second championship, beating Melbourne United 114-104 in game five.
• 2026: Finished 8th at 13-20 and missed the finals.

WHAT NBL27 LOOKS LIKE

Tatum is still the coach, Froling and Harvey are still the captains, and the club that won a title eighteen months ago now has to prove that NBL26 was the injuries rather than the ceiling.

The bigger question is off the floor. Illawarra came within a creditors' vote of being wound up, was kept alive by the league, and its owner then tried to buy that league. Whatever happens in NBL27, that is a more interesting sentence than most clubs can write about themselves.