Preview: NBL26 R4 Away v Illawarra Hawks

The Brisbane Bullets are back on the road this Saturday evening when they take on the defending champion Illawarra Hawks with both teams in need of an early season NBL victory.

The Bullets have been hit hard by injury over the opening three weeks of NBL26, but have continued to show an impressive fighting spirit where all three losses have seen them right within a chance of victory late in the piece.

The next road challenge now for the Bullets comes this Saturday evening when they take on the Hawks at the WIN Entertainment Centre with the game getting underway at 4:30pm Brisbane time.

It's an important early season game for both teams too with the Bullets currently sitting with a 1-3 record after that first up win in New Zealand while the Hawks are 0-3 to start their championship defence.

After a first up win in Auckland against the Breakers, the Bullets might have lost on the road to the Cairns Taipans and Adelaide 36ers, and then at home to the Tasmania JackJumpers last Saturday.

However, the Bullets have put in strong showings in each of those encounters to only lose by a combined 10 points and to have been a chance to win all three of them down the stretch.

That's been despite injuries to Mitch Norton, Casey Prather, Sam McDaniel and Javon Freeman-Liberty along the way, but other players have impressively stepped up for Brisbane for them to still be building despite the three narrow defeats.

The Hawks have so far lost their opening three matches of the season starting with a five-point home defeat to Tasmania before then losing in Perth by eight, and then on Wednesday night by 29 points against the Breakers.

That now has Illawarra looking for a first win of the season this Saturday when they host the Bullets who are looking to snap their own three-game losing streak.

Bullets coach Stu Lash likes the way his group is coming together even while not having yet played a game at full strength since Norton's knee injury in the opening minutes against the Breakers.

He's especially happy with the point guard-centre combination of Jaylen Adams and Tyrell Harrison, and the chemistry they are building as they now come up against the Tyler Harvey-JaVale McGee duo at the Hawks.

"More than anything, it's the continuity that comes with the more you play together with a certain group and it just naturally comes," Lash said.

"I thought we had better structure in this game offensively and maybe not exactly where we want to be, but Tassie year in and year out is one of the best defensive teams.

"If you let them load up in the half court, they can be really good so we tried to play with a pace and a ball movement to shift that defence and get Jaylen and Ty in some second actions.

"For the most part I thought we got great looks. Jaylen's finding his way and I think that chemistry between him and Ty will only continue to evolve as will him finding those shooters on the floor.

"We're chipping at it and our three losses are by a combined 10 points and percentage points matter, and we know we're down some bodies, but we're fighting and competing."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Illawarra Hawks

Tip off: 4:30pm (AEST), Saturday 11 October, 2025

Where: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel, Disney+, Kayo and Fetch