Ervin the one to keep
Illawarra Mercury
Tuesday March 29, 2011
THIS year's title is still yet to be decided, but Wollongong veteran Glen Saville is adamant the Hawks must re-sign star import Gary Ervin if they want to be contenders next season.In a glowing endorsement of Ervin's contribution, Saville believes it will be a huge advantage to have Ervin as the team's back court general again."He's the biggest piece of the puzzle," Saville said."Re-signing Gary means we're not going to take too much of a backward step by having to get another guard and bringing them up to speed on the plays we run."We know what we get with Gary and it's something pretty special, so hopefully he's back."The Hawks have already retained Saville, captain Mat Campbell, Oscar Forman, Rhys Martin, Tim Coenraad and Dave Gruber.Tyson Demos, Ervin, Dan Jackson and Tim Behrendorff remain unsigned.Saville and the Hawks cooled down with a final recovery session at Wollongong beach yesterday after thrashing arch-rivals Sydney 86-70 at the Sandpit in their last game of the season on Sunday night.The fire still burns more than ever for Saville.The normally laid-back 35-year-old produced a passionate performance in the victory, including a heated square-off with Kings centre Julian Khazzouh in the dying minutes.After missing the play-offs by one game - a year after coming within one game of an NBL crown - Sav said he was determined to make another grand final series, in what could be his swansong."For the most part of this year we were on track," he said. "We were 9-2 and leading the competition and we were looking at that again and then we get injuries and lost nine in a row."A grand final is something I'm aspiring to before the end of my career."
© 2011 Illawarra Mercury