Basketball: No hoop hero, no problem - Lemanis

Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis (pictured) says Kirk Penney's injury absence will force his teammates to step up. Photo / Getty Images

The Breakers take on surprise ANBL leaders Wollongong Hawks in Sydney tonight looking to prove that theyare still a force without MVP Kirk Penney.

Penney is still taking baby steps on his recovery from a back injury that is likely to take at least four weeks to heal, but the Breakers are looking at his absence as more of an opportunity than a setback.

Fixing the team's offensive structure is at the top of coach Andrej Lemanis' to-do list. Somewhat ironically, he believes not having his most productive offensive player in the line-up could help.

"It's put us in a situation where we are forced to ensure our structures are right offensively because we don't have Kirk to bail us out with some miracle shot," Lemanis said.

"We have to get scores out of the offence and I think we showed against the Tigers that when we run our offence well and efficiently we can generate easy baskets out of it.

"If the offence is humming and we are flowing and finding those synergies and how to get the easy baskets, then certainly adding Kirk back into that puzzle will be a nice touch."

Penney then returning to augment a side that had been successful without him is a best possible case scenario. But Wollongong has been a graveyard for the Breakers and their 0-2 start on the road versus the Hawks' undefeated home record hardly suggests a first road win of the season is imminent.

Veteran forward Dillon Boucher, however, was confident the team could rediscover the form that saw it win seven straight on Aussie pine last season.

"At the end of the day it's just another game and it's just on a different court and mentally that's the way we approach it as a team," Boucher said. "We don't approach it any different to a home game, it's just that the fans are booing us, rather than cheering."

The Hawks may not be one of the league's more fancied sides but they have so far bucked predictions they would struggle, winning the pre-season tournament in Darwin - when they defeated the Breakers in the final - and beating Perth and Cairns in their two home matches to date.

The Breakers are not the only team with injury problems.

A leg injury suffered in a tangle with Gold Coast's Pero Cameron on Wednesday night looks likely to have ended Tigers forward Ben Knight's season. Knight, who was signed as a replacement for another long-term injury casualty, Chris Anstey, ruptured the quad tendon in his right knee.

It is a major blow for the Tigers, who entered the season alongside the Breakers as title favourites, but are currently languishing at the bottom of the ladder with a 1-3 record.

Perth Wildcats centre Paul Rogers is also out for an extended period after suffering a biceps injury that requires surgery.

- additional reporting NZPA