Illawarra Hawks

Mat Campbell did not save the Illawarra Hawks by scoring points. In 2009, with the club facing financial collapse, the captain led a community campaign that kept it alive under a new structure, Wollongong Hawks Basketball Limited.

They are the one constant of the National Basketball League: the only club to have played every season since the competition began in 1979. The name around the club has moved more than the club itself — Illawarra Hawks became Wollongong Hawks in 1998, reverted to Illawarra in 2015 to speak to the wider region, and briefly shed its identity again in 2020 when the league itself took over the licence after another ownership crisis, playing simply as "The Hawks" before Illawarra Hawks returned in 2021.

The silverware took a long time to arrive twice. Glen Saville was Finals MVP when the Hawks won their first Premiership in 2001, beating the Townsville Crocodiles, and his number 12 has not been worn since. It took until 2025, under coach Justin Tatum, for a second title to follow — a 3–2 finals win over Melbourne United that came alongside the club's first Minor Premiership. In between sat three lost Grand Finals, twice to Perth.

The Hawks still play at the WIN Entertainment Centre, known locally as "The Sandpit", in front of 6,000 at capacity.

No fixture matters more than the one against Sydney. The Sydney-Illawarra Derby is played for the Adrian Hurley Cup.