Wani Swaka Lo Buluk is a well-respected NBL defender but it was being called out in pre-season by Illawarra Hawks coach Justin Tatum that lit a fire under him that has him runaway favourite for the Damian Martin Trophy.

The Hawks improved to a 5-1 record to start the season with Saturday night's 87-75 win in Cairns against the Taipans where once again their defensive charge was led by Swaka Lo Buluk.

There is a lot to like about what the Hawks have done over the opening five rounds of the season to be sitting atop the NBL, but the defensive presence provided by Swaka Lo Buluk is as important as any part.

His coach is fully aware of the importance of his presence which was again on show in the win in Cairns on Saturday night.

"This guy next to me (Swaka Lo Buluk) who I'm definitely talking about needs to be in contention of Defensive Player of the Year in the league, he comes in and sets the tone," Tatum said.

"He did another great job on one of their best players and he's been doing it over the course of the season for us so far. When guys like this step it up and take the challenge, it helps the team and ignites us to pull out wins like this."

Swaka Lo Buluk is now 149 games into his NBL career having started as a development player at the Perth Wildcats before joining the Sydney Kings where he became a starter on the championship winning team in NBL22.

He was the defensive menace on that team before joining the Hawks in NBL23 and now in his third season in the 'Gong and he has had a brilliant start.

That included on Saturday night him limiting Cairns' Rob Edwards to 4/15 shooting on the back of a brilliant job on Tasmania's Milton Doyle last week who had a horror night with four points and seven turnovers.

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk would have to be leading the running as Defensive Player of the Year right now, and for the 23-year-old it's all on the back of being called out in pre-season by his coach for him to go up another gear.

"It was in the pre-season and no one knows this, but JT called me out in front of everybody," Swaka Lo Buluk said.

"It kind of lit a fire in me and my mindset changed. Just him calling me out now makes me set the tone for everybody on the team, but I've got to give a shoutout to the coaches with their scouts.

"That lets me just go out there and try to set the tone."

While Swaka Lo Buluk's defence is making him stand out, he's also made himself into a legitimate offensive threat so far this season too averaging a career-best 8.3 points a game including a high of 16 against the Kings.

He was also ranked second for fast break points coming into Saturday's game against the Taipans and he got out on the break a couple of more times against the Snakes as part of his six points.

While he takes great pride in his defence, he wants to contribute offensively too and help the team win as much as he can.

"I just have to do whatever I can to help the team win," Swaka Lo Buluk said.

"Whether that's running the lanes or getting stops, I'm just doing what I've got to do to help us win.

"JT lit a fire in me and it definitely changed my mindset so I have to give a shoutout to him as well."

It's anything but a one man show with the Hawks now sitting on top of the NBL with a 5-1 record and Swaka Lo Buluk has no doubt a key reason for the fast start to NBL25 is bringing so many players back from last season.

Only Trey Kell III and Darius Days have come into the Hawks group this season while Sam Froling, Tyler Harvey, Davo Hickey, Hyunjung Lee, Todd Blanchfield, Mason Peatling, Lachlan Olbrich and Dan Grida are all back from last season's playoff run.

Swaka Lo Buluk has no doubt that having that stable group from last season's team that was one win from a Championship Series is a big part of their early NBL25 success.

"It's definitely a lot to do with the chemistry that we have and keeping the guys from last year, and having the same core group definitely helps with the way we've started this season," Swaka Lo Buluk said.

"We know we've got a long season to go and we're riding on this high at the moment, but we know we can still be 10 times better."

Chris Pike

Tatum lights fire for Wani's NBL25 defence