Perth by 25

I'm tipping 36ers to cause an upset win.
There has been an improvement over last 4 weeks.
Julius Hodge to be a major factor in their win.

Perth by 9

Redhage and Loughton to top score for Perth
Ballinger and Maher to top score for Adelaide
Hodge to go double figure points

Don't they have a good record against us over there?
I'll say cats by single digits, mahersey to top score...

Cats by 40. I don't have any faith at the moment. (Even after the festive period)

Sixers by 2

Ballinger top score again, hopefully Hodge lights it up as well.

Redhage to top score for them.

This week sucks as I have Redhage as Captain, and Crawford and Loughton in my dream team!

I dont really rate the Cats at all. The only reason I wouldnt tip the Sixers is because the game is in Perth.

Heck, Adelaide by 8 still. Dont expect big numbers from Hodge though.

Adelaide by 3. Big crowd at Challenge Stadium. Redhage and Loughton to have big games for Cats and Maher and Ballinger to have 20 + point games for the 36ers. Hodge won't score heaps but will fill up the stat sheet(assits,rebounds,steals)

im really hoping hodgey can play some flat out Defence and shut down the players like Redhage, worthington, ebi, all the players that we just cant guard!!
if he can do this and contribute on the offensive end with his play making scoring and rebounding i reckn we have a chance......
our guards are way better, i rekn our bigs are bout even but redhage is by far better than any of our small forwards.

CMON HODGY, shut him the F@#k down.

anyone know when the last time they showed 36ers play perth at perth on FOX? big time rivals, but no love from the nbl!

Might've been that game where Farley lit it up?

The only way the Sixers will win is if Ballinger has a big game and Hodge has a huge game! Perth are solid at home and have a 7-2 record there. While on the other hand we have a 3-6 record on the road vs Slingers (Last), Dragons (Second to last) and Razorbacks (4th to last). We might make it competitive but ultimately Perth should win comfortably by 10+

CAMPBELL, I doubt Hodge could guard Redhage or Worthington as they would just over power him and are more like Power Forwards then a small forward. However, Hodge has been known to be able to guard guards well, so people like Hinson, Crowe and the Sydney guard import we should be able to contain much more efficiently now.

Is the game not in foxtel? :(

Cats by 8, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the 6ers getting up.

Line opened at Adelaide +6. I expect Adelaide to edge out a win but will still be taking the line.

Hodge will make or break this game. If he can make points driving the paint, expect to see Maher and Ng get points from outside. It would also be helpful for Coops to have a big game defending inside.

If we in, we will be in the 8!

Thats the thing anon; If Hodge doesn't 'see enough of the ball' then Balls or Maher will be seeing it.

Its much like the CJ/Ebi/Sammy Mac (Maher/Hodge/ Balls) combo the Bullets have.

I think it is a bit early to be comparing Hodge to Sammy Mac...

That said, I think we could get an upset here. It would be a great boost if we did, and would really set up a great chance to see some post season action.

If we do win, it will be down to one thing - passion. I am not sure yet that we quite have enough of it, but we only lost by 4 in Perth last time, and we now have a full roster (though the Perth roster has changed since then too).

Yeah last game shown between the two was when farley made 40 plus... us farley boys went to the letter L's house to watch it and all had our farley tops on.. Boy oh Boy that was a good night!

Wildcats by 5 - Redhage to go for 30+ Ballinger for 30+ aswell. Hodge to make an impact but not with points.

XY

Cad was comparing Ebi and Hodge

However that was a bad comparison also

Hodge has probably heard that when you start scoring Phil subs you out..........

Dr BS, I'm guessing the same thing for Hodge - will fill a boxscore, but won't dominate the scoring. If he penetrates, he'll come up against Redhage, Loughton and Rogers who make for a pretty big front court.

I think Perth might win in a close game, but definitely can't rule out Adelaide. They will be confident after two road wins and Perth might get too cocky after the Slingers game.

will our starting 5 be Davidson, Maher , Hodge, balls and Motts or will it be that cooper starts instead of hodge and balls plays the 3 spot on Redhage?

if cooper starting was the case ,do you think Ballinger could hold his own if not nulify Redhage?
would be good to see that match up...( oh wait, we aint gonna see sh!t) u suck fox!

36ers by 4

Darren Ng to have another blinder in the west (the Cats fans are scared of him)

Brett to top score

me to be evicted from the stadium for whistling too loud.

Adelaide to be up by as much as 20pts , only for the cats to edge back into the game and take it by 8pts,Sounds familiar does'nt it.Well not this time 6ers in a close one with Ballinger top scoring and Hodge to Dunk on Rogers , heck Copeland to dunk on Redhage aswell, and Mahersey to light it up from the arc... C'mon 6ers

Well, I have no idea which way this game will go. We haven't seen Hodge in action except for 1 game only a few days after he arrived in Adelaide and minimal training. Reports about his training since have all been positive but he still knows nothing about the opposition because he hasn't met any of them on court. Adelaide have had several wins in Perth in the last couple of years so could realistically win this one. The Cats are usually strong at home so Adelaide could lose this one. Oh dear, all this confusion and still don't know which way to turn. Good luck 36ers.

Its not that simple, Ballinger is not exactly invisible to the opposition. They are well aware of what he is capable of and will be out to stop him.

from the cats...

delaide will be confronted with a defensive squeeze when they take on the Wildcats at Challenge Stadium on Saturday night, according to Perth coach Scott Fisher.

Fisher said he was wary about the 36ers' shooting prowess and said it was important for his charges not to get caught up in Adelaide's high-scoring game style.

"You gotta beat them on the defensive end because I don't think you are going to outshoot them," Fisher said."

"You can't get caught up in their game where they take early shots, long shots, surprising shots, we can't get caught up in that because we don't have that outside shooting power. We have to maintain our composure offensively, the players have got to make sure all their (the opponents') shots are contested and they only get one shot per trip."

"If they're going to take long shots, bad shots, quick shots or good shots we have to limit them to just that one look. They do shoot the ball too well to give them too many second opportunities."