Championship point guard Kevin White stepped back into the line-up for a one-off game against the Dandenong Rangers in Saturday night's season opening win.

The now Illawarra Hawk, who is skipping the SEABL season, said he was immediately impressed with what he saw.

"Harves (coach Ben Harvey) has done a great job recruiting the right guys and he obviously still has all the 'rock' people like Daniel Hansen, Taylor Bell, Chris Hogan, Chris Adkins and David Hogan," White said.

"When you put that team on the floor and you get the likes of Adam Doyle and C. J. Aiken, and you have Matt (Andronicos) coming back and bring in Dyami (Starks), it will be a very strong group.

"They will have their ups and downs during the year just like we did last year, but if they can stay together and stay strong as a group, which I am sure they can, they can do just as well as we did last year or if not better."

The Braves' 89-57 win was powered by a 21 point game from import Starks and 16 points and eight rebounds from championship centre Matt Andronicos.

The former NBL development player was the first Brave to report back for duty this pre-season after plenty of hard work in the gym and on the court.

But it was the contribution of the player who effectively replaced him in the line-up that had White bullish about the Braves' chances.

After they spent the NBL season as opponents, White welcomed the opportunity to spend time in the backcourt alongside Adelaide 36ers recruit Doyle.

"He will get up the floor a lot quicker than I can, which will be great for the team." he said.

"He will be able to push the ball, put a lot of pressure on and probably bring something to the table that the Braves haven't had in a long while.

"He's a jet. Playing in Adelaide, he has the experience of guarding (NBL MVP) Jerome Randle day in and day out at practice and Jerome is one of the best players to play in Australia as an import.

"He'll be a real handful for every opposition team."

Meanwhile, despite the disappointment of Illawarra being swept in the grand final series against the Perth Wildcats, White was satisfied with how his NBL season panned out.

The 26-year-old averaged 15:08 minutes of court time for 4.74 points a game as the Hawks advanced to the grand final from fourth spot.

"I loved it. You never want to be swept in any finals series, but to have those two games we had against Adelaide and win a series like that was unbelievable," he said.

"The win we had in our third game against Adelaide (to advance to the grand final) was one of the best wins I have ever been a part of since I've been playing.

"It was unbelievable year for me, I'm really happy how things went.

"Right now it's time for me to try and step back and relax a bit and enjoy my off-season becuase it's been a solid few years of non-stop basketball."