The Ringwood Hawks got a brutal reminder of what it takes to be a Championship caliber team in this year’s Big V with 2 heavy losses over the weekend to last years Grand Finalists Dandenong and Sandringham.

The Hawks great start to the season seemed to matter little to the Dandenong Rangers on Saturday night when they started the game fast and never gave the Hawks a chance to recover. The undefeated Rangers used some tight defense to limit the Hawks main scoring options while Rangers big guns Hobba, Inglima and Cannon scored freely.

The Hawks were led by Curtis Small and Luke McMillan who both nailed 18 points and Joel Seach who grabbed 16 rebounds to go with 13 points of his own. The Hawks played with out Andrew Battye and Michael Beer, both unavailable for the weekend , and will no doubt look at the 22 missed foul shots and 10 missed lay ups as a reason for the wide final margin. The Hawks eventually succumbed 130 to 84.

With no chance to lick their wounds, the Hawks had to back up Sunday and face the team that Dandenong beat in last years Grand Final series, Sandringham. The Sabres are another team that have blended NBL talent with a high profile American and will again be a Championship contender.

The Hawks started the game more positively and withstood some early Sabres pressure. Damien Smith (13 points) and Joel Seach (20 points and 15 rebounds) kept the Hawks close but at the half they still trailed by 11.

The third quarter saw the Hawks make an early run cutting the Sabres lead to 5 with Luke McMillan, Willie Weimer and Curtis Small providing the spark. Some great defense from Matt Snowball and Michael Giles gave the Hawks some belief until the Sabres buried 3 straight three pointers and a further 3 point play to put the game out of their reach.

The Sabres built on the lead throughout the last quarter, eventually cruising to a 35 point win but according to Hawks Centre Joel Seach, the Hawks still have finals aspirations.

“Whether you lose by 40 or lose by 1, it’s just a loss and we still sit in 5th spot. We have a chance to get a great win next week at Warrnambool, it could be a season making game for us.”