"It's good to see the guys stepping up at various times," said coach Andrej Lemanis. "That's our strength - we've got different people who can step in and help, different people who can step in and take over a game at different times and make critical plays."
Lemanis constantly preaches his club is 10-deep and, although the likes of Leon Henry and Corey Webster are rarely seen late in a close contest, just how easily the Breakers coped without Hudson does support his argument.
The back-up centre has been one of their best during the record winning run but, with an MCL tear in his left knee keeping him on the sidelines for at least a month, the Breakers will have to come up with new ways to find a now-familiar result.
That started on Friday night, with Vukona indicating the advice from one the side's leaders left him in attack mode and determined to account for Hudson's absence in the key.
"CJ said to come out aggressive and, I think for the first time, I really listened to him," he joked. "I just took it upon myself and things were just falling for me. Everyone encouraged me to shoot it so that's what I did.
"I just felt it, really."
He was still feeling in late in the fourth, when the Breakers' lead had been trimmed from 15 to just three with 90 seconds left. His offensive board from a Tom Abercrombie miss and subsequent three-point play sealed the game and illustrated, even when they're on the ropes, just how hard it is to knock out the champs.
"[It] would have been a great game to steal," said Wollongong coach Gordie McLeod. "It would've been like getting your powerball number in Lotto.
"[Vukona] is relentless. The amount of possession he gets and the energy he brings - at both ends of the floor. You want those guys on your team because they make everything happen."
