Tim Coenraad was one Hawk to step up big in Wollongong's Game One Grand Final loss in Perth and he can't wait to get back to Challenge Stadium for Game Three if his team wins on Tuesday at home.

Playing in his first NBL season and obviously Grand Final series, Coenraad scored 16 points with four three-pointers in 24 minutes.

Luke Martin also stepped up with 11 points, 10 of which came in the second quarter, and the pair kept Wollongong in touch.

Coenraad didn’t mind the intense atmosphere inside Challenge Stadium that was jam-packed and the loudest it has been in years. He didn’t mind at all quietening them either as he saw his shots fall, but he's now looking forward to heading back to Wollongong for Game 2 on Tuesday.

"They are a great crowd and at one point when they hit a three I think my ears were just ringing. It's a great atmosphere and I like playing in it as well as playing in Wollongong where we have the same thing for us," Coenraad said.

"It's a good atmosphere and makes everyone play better, and it's good for the game when you've got a crowd like this because it shows the people's enthusiasm. I'd love to be back here playing in a decider because I think the atmosphere would be crazy.

"The guys will be a lot more confident at home and we know what our record is there. They are going to have to play tough to get us on our home floor."

Coenraad was pleased to play well personally, but would have liked to have done better on the defensive end, particularly rebounding.

The 24-year-old was happy with his team's overall defence, though, and he and his teammates know what is required with Game 1 out of the way.

"I'd take all that away for a win. It's good to play well, but I'd much rather win the game. I played some minutes and felt I could have got some more rebounds as well, so especially at the defensive end we have to do that better," he said.

"They out-rebounded us, but defensively we still held them to 75 points on their home floor. They get up and in you, get in the passing lanes and disrupt what you want to do. We have to win two on the trot to get a championship, so that's what we've got to do."

The Hawks have won just three of 16 games on the road, but have lost just once at home as well so Coenraad is pumped to play in front of the Wollongong faithful again to hopefully set up Game 3 back in Perth.

"Everyone knows our road record isn’t that great and I've been trying to figure out what we do differently at home so that we can bring it on the road, but I can't think of anything to put it down to," he said.

"The crowd is great and gives you a lot of energy at home, and I think you get a lot more energy hitting a shot when the crowd's behind you rather than hitting one to silence it. Having said that, I like to hear the crowd go silent as well when you hit a shot, it's a great feeling."

While Coenraad was terrific, Hawks coach Gordie McLeod saw some of his key players down on their usual contributions, especially Glen Saville, Larry Davidson and Cameron Tragardh who combined for just 15 points on 6-of-27 shooting.

McLeod is confident that the Hawks can take enough out of Game 1 to turn the result around on Tuesday.

"We showed a lot of character throughout the whole game. At different stages we got behind, but we kept fighting and hanging in there. I was a little disappointed that we had a few guys down and that hurt us," McLeod said.

"We certainly played them a lot tougher than the last time we were here. We'll take that as a real positive and now for us it's about recovery. That's going to be a really big part with a game on Tuesday, so it's about recovering, evaluation and adjustments for us."

McLeod credits Perth's defence mostly for Wollongong only scoring 64 points, but with some things in place to get the players that were down more involved, the veteran coach is confident of making the right adjustments.

"They are a very good, disruptive defensive team and they are tough to play against. We should take a lot out of that and if we can make some small adjustments here and there, hopefully we can turn the tables," he said.

"You've got to give the Wildcats credit for their D. Their bigs bumped and really got into us and pushed us off the block a lot. We'll have to work a lot harder to get our bigs some touches and catches, but there's enough from that game to go back and work on.

"We're pretty happy with our defence to hold them to 75 and now we have to try and find ways to loosen up our offence and get our bigs involved in what we want to do."