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"There’s still a little bit of grey as to the status of SEABL and whatnot, but from my understanding it’s still got one more season in it, hopefully," McEachin said.

"You’d love to be able to be down in Victoria to be playing regularly against the big-time players like Dandenong and Nunawading and those kind of teams.

"But they don’t want to travel up here, and to be honest, travelling down there does take it out of you. Without being disrespectful to the Waratah League, it’s not as tough consistently from top to bottom as the SEABL is.

"If it works out that SEABL doesn’t exist anymore, then we’ll probably end up playing in that competition, and it’ll be great, but then that jump from Waratah League into NBL or to college is just going to be that little bit bigger for these young kids to go through."

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"What we did was really just give him a chance to show what we can do, and what he demonstrated is that he has certainly got the athleticism and ability to compete at the SEABL level, and now he’s got the chance to show the Hawks staff whether he can do it in the NBL," McEachin said.

"There’s been countless guys who have come through the program and gone onto college or had opportunities in the NBA.

"A lot of kids have come through the Gunners program to come back and do some really good things."

Illawarra's foray into the capital will be crucial after their scheduled pre-season clash with the Sydney Kings in Newcastle was cancelled due to court issues.

NBL PRE-SEASON

Friday, September 14: Illawarra Hawks v Adelaide 36ers at Tuggeranong Basketball Stadium, 7.30pm. Tickets from Eventbrite.