How to watch & talking points: Illawarra v Brisbane

11 Dec 2025

illawarra hawks

brisbane bullets

Reigning champions Illawarra host Brisbane in a must-win Thursday night clash.

Illawarra Hawks v Brisbane Bullets
Thursday, December 11, 7.30pm AEDT
WIN Entertainment Centre

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Talking points

Hawks' offensive turnaround
After what Justin Tatum labelled "close to" the Hawks' worst loss of the season against Cairns, the reigning champions need to bounce back.

To do so, the Hawks are going to need to rectify their struggling offence, with is sixth-best this season (89.6 points a game), a far cry from last season's laeague-best mark (101.4)

The Hawks also have the second-worst offensive rating (107.2) and points per possessions (1.07) and hold a league worst 16 in turnover percentage.

Freeman-Liberty's return
In his only two games of the season, the American guard averaged 19 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5 assists per game.

Since then, Freeman-Liberty parted ways with the club, re-signed with the Bullets and dealt with a viral illness.

With all that in the rear vision mirror, Freeman-Liberty is slated to make his return on Thursday, which is a timely boost to Stu Lash's side.

What they're saying

Hawks coach Justin Tatum on team's not fearing the reigning champions:
"They don't [fear us], and it's a lot on us. It's because of a lot of inconsistency in our play and a lot of things that we're allowing teams to do a lot more than we did last year.

"Even though other teams will give you their best shot, they can give you their best shot and still fear you, and right now we're getting both their best shot, and they don't fear us.

"We've got 18 games left. We can change our understanding of who the Hawks are as of recently to whom we need to get back to. That's what we're gonna start focusing on now."

Brisbane forward Jacob Holt on his team's progress:
"I think behind the scenes we keep working and we're getting better every day, and we're not in the situation we want to be in, but I would ride with these guys like no one else.

"This Illawarra game is a good game for us to try and get back on the right foot, to start with another win and to keep going."