How to watch & talking points: Illawarra v Cairns

03 Jan 2026

illawarra hawks

cairns taipans

Fresh off a New Year's Eve win over Tasmania, reigning champions Illawarra host Cairns in a must-win clash for both sides.

Illawarra Hawks (8th) v Cairns Taipans (10th)
Saturday, January 3, 5.30pm AEDT
WIN Entertainment Centre

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Talking points

Not out of it
The Illawarra Hawks’ impressive win over Tasmania on Wednesday night was enough to keep them in the mix for a post-season spot.

Perhaps more importantly for Justin Tatum was that he began to see some rotations that could work in the future and could help this team go on a little run.

While Tyler Harvey is unlikely to continue to come off the bench, it was Biwali Bayles in his first career start, who set a tone for the rest of the team to follow.

Taipans need to strike
The last time the Taipans went into Wollongong, they came out with a gutsy win without some significant pieces available due to injury.

With most of those players now back and healthy, this is their time to step up. In the games that the Taipans have won, it’s come on the back of some efficient outside shooting and being able to stun their opposition early.

What they're saying

Hawks star Tyler Harvey on his side playing with twin bigs, JaVale McGee and Sam Froling:
“I think when you have two big threats in the paint it obviously opens us up, and it opens them up as well.

"If you're going to double them then they can kick it out to us and if they don't double, then they have the one-on-one matchup, so it's a bit of a cat and mouse game that we haven’t had all year.

"This [New Year's Eve] was the first time we've had 99 per cent of our team so it's still figuring out how to figure out playing with two bigs, and they're still learning us as well.

"I thought we did a good job with it tonight and we forced a couple inside that we can fix, but once we get that flowing I think it will be good."

Taipans coach Adam Forde on his side's strong record in Wollongong:
“We're not looking too much into that [record]. Obviously, they're really tough on their home court, but we did a great job controlling the pace when we were there a month ago.

"That's obviously something we want to highlight and do again [on Saturday].

"But they're playing some really good basketball now [with all their players back], so we will just prepare as best as we can."