Goldfields Giants’ men’s head coach Alastair Ishigami-Sims said all players would come under hard scrutiny in the last two games of the squad’s disastrous 2026 campaign, after Saturday night’s 104-75 loss against the visiting Perry Lakes Hawks at Evolution Mining Stadium.

In a season that had promised so much, the Giants are languishing in 12th place and five games outside the top-eight, on the back of a 14th defeat.

Ahead of the group’s remaining qualifying games against Joondalup and Warwick, Ishigami-Sims on Monday said that how players competed with nothing on the line could essentially decide their futures.

The Giants were last weekend outscored in the first half, 60-36.

And despite a second-half revival, they shot at just 34 per cent from the field — compared to 59 per cent by the Hawks, who cruised to a 10th victory and outright seventh place on the ladder.

“We (the coaching staff) have hit on why we are playing these last two games — the actual reasons behind them, and the guys’ character will show, as far as who they really are,” Ishigami-Sims said.

“We’ll continue to challenge them on that aspect and it will be telling — both at training, and in these next two games.

“We’ll go to war with guys who want to go to war.

“Obviously at this point of the season, we have to start looking ahead and it’s a challenge for every player when things aren’t going our way — the true colours come out, and we’ll see what happens.

“There’s going to be opportunities for everyone to get a real crack, and it’s important that they do know that.”

Sam Vinson led the Giants with 17 points, six rebounds and three assists, complemented by Matt MacLellan (11 points; 13 rebounds) and Sam Morrow (15 points; three rebounds; three assists; two steals).

“We allowed them to shoot at quite a high percentage for most of the game,” Ishigami-Sims said.

“That didn’t help our momentum — we couldn’t get going in transition.

“It was a poor effort, from our standpoint.”

Ladder:

Buccaneers (16-3); Flames (16-4); Wolves (14-6); Cougars (13-6); Tigers (12-8); Suns (12-8); Hawks (10-9); Eagles (10-10); Lightning (8-12); Magic (7-12); Redbacks (7-12); Giants (5-14); Senators (5-15); Slammers (2-18).