I'm hearing from a couple of places now that Mitch will suit tonight.

This needs to be a statement game from us! It all needs to start at the defensive end and Gibbo needs to bring the mindset he had against Jackson and the Breakers a couple weeks back cos he is up against a tough competitor tonight!

Just going on a couple of tweets I saw this morning which have now been (in)conveniently removed.

I will now retract be previous comment.

I too thought it would be early December.

gibson on radio said he's back and might play 2 or 3 mins

For what it's worth I also seen tweets saying the same re Creek

Ill be at the Football tonight but will try to get in touch with the scores. Looking forward to watching it after I get home (assuming Channel 10 does its usual show in Perth hours after it has happened).

Jack: showing their nose in town and strutting around like peacocks on heat for this GF rematch.

Have the Wildcats gone over a bit early and hit Rundle Mall?

Should be a good game the Sixers really need this as you don't want to drop too far below .500. A toss up

Come on Team Evil, Sixers are goin' down!

If I see Adam Tatalovich stroking a cat, then Perth will be definitely Team Evil

You know, I always figured Jack Bendat had probably been a Bond villain in his younger days.

Does he drive a gold roller? or own a blimp? He better not have a Korean man-servant

Hehe ^ ure classic! think 36ers will come out blazding and if perthdnt get blown out in the 1st qts they have a shot. Perth would be happy to split the double this w/end, bounus cairns lost got them next w/end

Adelaide won't want to be 0-3 with Motum.
Big game for them but huge weekend for Perth who could go 2-0 and clear of the pack or just as easily drop both. Hoping Perth can win but think Adelaide might get this one.

I retract my retraction.

Creek is playing tonight.

You know.. Im not so worried about Cairns anymore. I saw the game with Sydney and Cairns looked well.. a different team to earlier in the season. There 6 games are great sure, but they have lost the aura.

If the 36ERS are relying on Creek's return to generate a turn-around - which seems to be the unvoiced message here - they really are in strife.

POP

Creek does bring energy off the bench and it was blatantly obvious that the energy off the bench was seriously missing last week...

I would imagine Creek will have very limited minutes...

One player doesnt make a team... but he certainly would havehelped against sydney and his energy would have been a bonus last week as well...

should be a great game, they usually are...

can not wait!

So who is making way for Creek on the roster...Edwards/Crawford?

Tornado - Edwards was released today.

Thanks Skip!

My big feeling with Cairns is that now that they have pressure and expectation they don't know what to do. They seemed to explode immediately after people began to suggest they could be title faves.

Nathan of Perth...I think a bit of that along with their game plan and imports being scouted better has resulted in their slide. Question is, do they have another game plan or 2 to counteract with?

instead of tightening up now....Cairns need to loosen up,dont know if Fearne knows the meaning of those words....so probably cant instill it.

1. Why does Wagstaff never get a flopping warning/tech. He is a chronic flopper.

2. Why the hell do Adelaide continue to switch the high on balls when Beal is dribbling. You're leaving Petrie on Beal..who has to give him a cushion otherwise he'll go straight to the rim. The result = Beal getting wide open 3s. IMO switching on screens is so amateur..why the hell are the 36ers doing this. The screens 30 foot from the hoop..just fight over it!.

3. IMO stop the 2 PG experiment next year. Gibson was the best player in the league over the previous few games. Absolutely sublime. In comes Wilson and he doesn't score until a few minutes left in the game. Give Gibbo the reigns and give him full control. He's too good a player to have to take a back seat to anyone. If Gibbo isn't given the reigns, I'd imagine theres a few teams that would.

Perth and NZL should finish 1 and 2. The Hawks 8th. Positions 3 - 7 are up for grabs.

MACDUB, you do realise the 36ers made the GF last year with the "two PG experiment"?

Yeah paul and Gibson and Ervin did that well.

I would just love to see Gibson have full reign. He could be the best PG in the league easily.

Being the sole PG wouldn't have helped Gibbo tonight. He was worse than cold.
NZ was the best game I've seen him play, tonight was the worst. Just couldn't get anything going.

I suppose Paul the concern is that Gibson could walk to a team who would build around him as a franchise player. E.g. Brisbane etc. I think that would be a big loss to the 36ers.

Jamar Wilson is a big trouble for this 6ers team. He needs to be released and a genuine 3 point threat at the 3 spot with some athleticism needs be put in place. He killed off Gibson's game tonight and took many ill advised shots early in the offense. Being a 10 point player, his points are to valuable for the out put he is giving, Please don't let the stats fool you, he played very selfishly and was able to get the basket in the last minute when Perth had done there damage.

No changes will be made, BUT the way it is the 6ers won't make the playoffs.

One of the worst displays of umpiring I have seen for long time. Inconsistent both ways. Not why we lost, but didn't help.

A few of observations......

1. Gibbo needs to run the point. When he plays SG he's nowhere near as effective. Where that would leave Wilson I don't know. His stats were ok tonight (20 points), but in reality he played selfishly and it showed. But to have just about the best player in the league in the past month only scoring 2 points and be largely ineffective in a big game shows that he needs to run the point and be more involved.

2. The refs seem to be favouring Perth no matter where they play. That blocking foul on Wilson in the first quarter was an absolute joke and set the tone for the rest of the game. Almost every 50/50 call after that went Perth's way. Not taking anything away from the Wildcats though, they controlled the game well tonight.

3. I don't know what others think, but to me it seems that Joey has the 36ers more adjusting to how Brock Motum plays rather than having him adjust to how the 36ers play. It hasn't worked. He may be doing ok (not great), but since he's come in we haven't won, not that I am blaming Brock for that.

4. When is Wagstaff going to get called for a flop? In a lot of ways its not hard to understand what Childress did to him in Perth a few weeks back.

And lastly.....

5. The 36ers need to start guarding 3 point shots. If Perth didn't miss so many early on it could easily have been like last week against Melbourne.

Yeah the reffing was just deplorable. Not a good look on national TV. Never seen 2 of this guys before.... hope I never do again!

Wilson is only a 9, but otherwise, I agree with you. He and Gibbo together doesn't work. And he tends to just force things and drive headfirst into a defense to try make a lay-up. The others pretty much just stand around and watch most of the time.
He always comes out with a good game on paper, but usually it doesn't tell the full story with him.


Also... 3 games, haven't really looked like winning any of them since Motum arrived. Anything in that? Or just one of those things?

For mine, one of those things.... having said that, up 7 late in the 2nd against the Kings, a good team would've gone on with it. Last week, as bad as we were, United were simply comical and came back to earth today. But this Perth game was there, it was the perfect chance to make a statement and the 6ers failed miserably, sure they weren't blown out by 25 BUT they never ever looked likely and as much as i cheered and hoped, I knew there was no way they'd win that with 28 on the board at half time. Perth are good, yes, but not as good as last year. Adl just looked like a rabble, even with patches of decent defense. Id be pressing the panic button, this won't get better they it is.

In regards to the reffing, I feel the refs are buying into the legend that is Damian Martin.

Nowithstanding the fact he is one of the best defenders i have ever seen, the refs are starting to let a lot of his physical bumps and knocks go uncalled.


The 36ers shot too many 3s tonight. They aren't that great of a shooting team so i don't know why they keep jacking it up.

When Big Ginger gets the pill down low he usually scores.

The 36ers need to adjust and focus on getting more inside touches and playing/moving the ball off that.

One issue with the 36ers is that they don't have a "go to" tempo/a particular style of play.

Some games theyl run and gun..others they will be severely pedestrian. Joey needs to implement some fixed structures on what style they want to play.

Wright figured it out a little bit when he went with more mobile line-ups in the second half. We won't really know how this version of Adelaide works for another 2-3 weeks.

re: Jesse Wagstaff

He was on the floor so many times tonight it was a worry. Is he fully fit? Does he have an inner ear problem affecting his balance? Does he suffer from Hypotonia?

I am no doctor, but I don't think its normal for a healthy, fully grown man to lose his balance and fall over. Does he wear a head band to hide a scar from a previous operation or something? If there's no reason for his apparent loss of balance, I am concerned for him and he should consider seeing a doctor.

Why should it take 2 to 3 weeks. Adelaide with the record they have and the length of the season don't have that liberty! Its now, things have to change now.

FT shooting, umpires, and Wilson padding his stats made this a very frustrating game. I'm done with Wilson running the point, I would rather Gibbo and Wilson switch roles. Wilson just pounds the ball to much and forces his shot, yes he can make some nice moves but at what cost to the team.

I actually think he has lost the team a bit with the way he goes about it. But thats another story best told in the off season. You can rant and rave all you want, but that team doesn't seem to be fighting for him at all.

I get Wilson was 41% FG.

But a 20p, 10r znd 6a is not good enough? Sheesh....thats more rebounds than Big Bird and Motum COMBINED.

Damien Martin scores 2 points and 10r, the league gives praise.

Wilson gets 20p and 10r....the 'most knowledgeable' fans want him out.

Yes Marcus, yet again you have shown your naive approach to the game of basketball. The sacrifice of the 36ers game plan that had to occur for Jamar Wilson to achieve that seemingly solid stat line cost them the game. Watch the game its blatantly obvious what we lose as a team for his gain.

And stuff it ill bite, yes Id take Martins 2 and 10 boards any day of the week, cos you damn sure know if he is rebounding he is starting an outlet break or finding the open guy. Guy is painfully good and doesn't need to score to win. Like Rees and Stiff, that guy is a winner. So to put Jamar Wilson in the same category performance wise is quite frankly offensive, and thats coming from a 36er fan who has hated the 'cats since the Tiny Pinder days.

Kobe....WHAT game plan?

The last three games have been give it to Gibbo or give it to Motum to jack up shots.

Today Gibbo was off and Wilson steps up.

I'm not saying Wilson is the best, but give him due credit. He is also not the sole reason the Sixers lost.

Wilson was woeful from the get go... he forced everything. There was no offensive structure what so ever and everyone stood around whilst he penetrated and struggled. Again the stats do lie, what he did early, maybe awarded him 6 out of our first 15 points, but it fucked the rest of the team. So yeah. he deserves no credit for that performance. Id take a Gibbo 21 over a Wilson 21 any day, its a no brainer.

Bitch Motum complaining after every call.

Beal spanks em .....what do we have here - Jesse flopped.

Boo hoo ladies.

Another brilliant game by 36ers!
They are definitely contenders this year! In the game till the last seconds!!
If not for the nasty refs, ugly wagstaff, floppy redhage, annoying martin, pesky beal, pushy knight and the rest of the perth rabble, the sixers would have won easily!!
Great effort by Motum (leading the game in t/o with 5), blinder by Gibbo (brilliant 1 assist and amazing 1 shot of 8), uncanny free throw shooting by Schensch (0 from 5) and a vintage performance from Crawford (1 rebound in 11 minutes - and nothing else).
36ers are the benchmark of the competition!

Wildcats had control of this all the way.Too many weapons. 36er's hung around but never really looked up to it.Wilson tried too hard and forced a couple of plays. The big guy keeps getting ignored. 36er's shoot too many jump shots, few post ups and not many penetrate and kick shots. Too many unforced errors. Mitch Creek 6'6" athlete is such a poor defender, no energy or smarts.

**Average team, average crowd and the most annoying court announcer in the world, sixers fans used to be the loudest in the country, now you need some bloke yelling out and I quote "make some noiiiiiiissseee" at every foul shot, ffs shut up!**

Finally, someone else sees it exactly as I see it.
Perhaps switch the CA from the Lightning for a few games to the 36ers n vice versa.

"Why should it take 2 to 3 weeks. Adelaide with the record they have and the length of the season don't have that liberty! Its now, things have to change now."

You can say things have to change now, but with Creek and Wilson coming back into the team and Motum still finding his way it will simply take time, that's just the way it is.

That may ultimately cost the 36ers, who knows, but once they all figure out how they fit in this line-up they should be pretty good, especially if Wright keeps using the Motum, Petrie, Creek frontcourt.

Wilson had some games earlier in the year where he forced it badly at times and hurt the team, but last night I thought he was the only guy who could consistently handle the Perth D.

Do the 36ers have the time they appear to need?

Real deal Beal leads Perth to victory over Adelaide

The old cliche "don't fix what ain't broke" rings true. The best the Sixers played this year was the breakers in round 4 when all the players had got settled. Also Wilson didn't play so Gibbo ran point. Then we changed the team sacking Montreal for Motum and losing Wilson to injury. Now add creek coming back and the team has not settled. The offence is stagnant, way too many turnovers. Very inconsistent.
In saying that the basic fundamentals all players need are inconsistent. You won't win games shooting 30% free throws and 10% 3pt up to half time. Who would want to be Peter Crawford? Gets to some good spots, clapping hands asking for the ball and gets ignored. Happens 4-5 times very game. He runs cuts, etc and gets half assed screens so his defender just follows him. Watch other teams run a play to give a guy some space for a shot.
Sixers definitely better with Gibbo running point. Has Daly as backup, and doesn't need lots of rest. so what really is the need for Wilson?

Gibbo is better at point. The Sixers need a combo guard who plays similar to Beal.

Motum is a player I like to watch, he works , works and works, his one-on-one defense is v good IMO.

If the Daniels played for the sixers and Wilson for the cats last night, the game outcome would have been reversed. Daniels played hte game that the sixers need , a defender who will rebound and pass, but ho can just strok that 3 over the top of his defender.

I'm feeling sorry for crawford, he's working hard to get open, but being fed not at all, it makes him look washed up as a player.

there again - perhaps Crawford does play here anymore ?

http://www.adelaide36ers.com/players

The coaches havent designed one set play to get Crawford open all season. PC been thrown to the sharks with the way he is being 'utilised'.

http://www.adelaide36ers.com/players

Thats pretty poor from the team not to list Peter Crawford in the Roster on their OFFICIAL website.

Wagstaff was on the floor at least 6 times last night in 19 minutes of play

Jack Toft...you can count to 6.

That is so awesome.

Wagstaff was the least of the 6ers issues last night in any way. So if he wants to chill on the floor so be it. Adelaide lost that one with self inflicted issues.

How many times Wagstaff fell to the floor has no relevance the sixers were beaten by the better team on the night.

Didn't get to the game, was out of town. From what I read, on this site, the cause for most of the 36ers missed shots and free throws was the refs, the announcer and Wagstaff spending 6 minutes on the floor.

Without looking at the stats or hearing anyother input, outside if this site, I will guess WILSON would have been a hinderance and should be a "Off the Bench" player and as a second or third choice.

Don't even go there re Matty Knight, yes he was genuinely hurt etc BUT Perth fans act in such a way, that any chance any opposition fan base gets to boo jeer they will... not saying its right but just the way it is, when one team is so tremendously hated for how they and there fan base are at home sweet home. Deal with it.

that is the trouble doing flophages...one time you might be on the floor hurt.........anyways, sixers were pretty good to watch last season, at least

"I think it's a pretty standard unwritten rule that no matter how much you hate another player or the other team, you show some respect when a player is genuinely injured. "

and we know that the Perth flopper is "genuinely injured" and not just going for a Soccer Oscar how ? exactly ??? wait for the management to put the MRI scan up on the big screen ?

Point is look in your own back yard before crying high and mighty. Perth fans are fear disrespectful types, so figures that when they are the road team they will cop anything and everything. Again, deal with it. Its an element of sports.

Yeah agree about Crawford. Hasn't been utilised properly so far.

Glad you brought that up - it was a truly horrendous injury that no player deserves , no matter what amount of behavioral bastardy you can accuse them of. - here is the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp052QkMkPQ

I Have to admit that redhauge has no fear , and will put his body into anyone at every opportunity if he thinks he can get an advantage.

Have a good look at it, you can see exactly when it was that the torque was generated and transmitted through the hip joint when Redhauge planted his foot in his apparently successful attempt to change his direction.

Did he deserve that injury - NO. Was he trying to avoid contact and injury to himself or anyone else - IHNFI.

trolls - start your engines.

yeah apologies for misspelling - Redhage.

And i repeat - did he deserve that injury - no way - I felt sorry for him then , and I do now.

Very Old....you give them the benefit of the doubt first.

You know...like a Civilised person?

Why is Matt still playing with his head injury history is more the point. If he chooses to charge in to players and they move out the way and he falls or slips then so be it, thats the risk these players take. However, with Matt, this time he looked dazed again. Any other player may have just got up, rubbed his head and said that hurt. THe issue is he is vulnerable and maybe it is time for him to hang up his boots. I do not want to be present when the next bump is the one that goes one step beyond a few seconds laying on the floor and getting up dazed... The next one may be the irreversible. He is a father now and taking it for the team, but when your life and well begin is at stake it s a risk I would not take. I think the club needs to have the chat and encourage him to take another role at the club. I say this as a SIxers fan and out of genuine concern for Matt the man, not the player.

I don't mean any disrespect, but you can't really deny that Redhage and Wagstaff are floppers.

People may boo and jump on Redhage's back when he goes down with a legitimate injury, but it's only because he has flopped so much (and earnt a reputation for it) that you expect it was a flop.

Reminds me of the boy that cried wolf story.

No mention by any Adelaide fans of the huge flop by Crawford in the first quarter?

Wasn't a deciding factor in either of the last 2 games but those 2 games I have witnessed the worst refereeing I can recall in the last 20+ years as a fan/member.

Sixers need to run Gibbo at the point and get a sg/sf type to play next to him...he is a lot more effective as is the team when he is running things.

Ervin and Gibbo worked last year because they were great mates and had good chemistry both on and off the court.

Motum is overrated I feel and is no DJ. Appears to only have that one drop/euro step move in his arsenal, is an average defender at best, not a strong rebounder and isn't overly athletic or strong - he gets blocked or intimidated a lot in and around the basket.

Crawford is underutilised/ignored and has no plays run for him....much like Ng when Clarke was at the helm.

Teys...I love this kid and how he goes about it but I think he could be developing a bit of an ego. Last night he looked at an open Crawford (had been there for an eternity) on the perimeter and then thought nahhh...I'm just going to jack this up - he got it in but it was selfish and its things like that which are hurting the team. Oppositions sag off Crawford cos they know we aren't going to pass to him so are able to play 5 on 4 defensively.

36ers are woeful from the stripe. They are professionals and should be a lot better from there. It has and will continue to cost them games.

Lastly, it's blatantly obvious to everyone that the 36ers can't defend the 3 ball...until they can at least do that they'll always be pretenders rather than contenders!

Ohhhh and don't blame Perth for flopping etc, blame the umpires for not calling it.
All the good teams around the world will push the limits to see what they can get away with, its the smart thing to do.
At the end of the day, them dimwits in black and white with the whistles are the ones allowing this behaviour and should be held accountable.

Crawford is currently reminding me of Ron Howard (the ex-36er, not Richie Cunningham). When Ron played for us he was open outside the arc so many times I lost count. Yet playing under Marty he rarely saw the ball because the game plan was to get the ball into Ballinger and that's all our guards seemed to be doing. That was why Clarke reminded me of a junior coach. Get the ball into our best (often tallest) player and we'll be right. It didn't work in the NBL and I'd be VERY surprised to see Marty back as a coach in the NBL, even as an assistant.

The problem is that Crawf isn't getting the pill when he should be, and last night a lot of the problem for him and the rest of the 36ers was a certain player trying to make himself look good while running the point. But to do that he should have been utilising his team mates, not trying to pad his own stat line. Some of his drives were beyond belief and caused more than a few turnovers. I mean, after a while Perth just started double and triple teaming his drives because they knew he wouldn't pass off to an open player.

Marcus Camby, THAT is what we mean by saying Wilson plays selfish. Wants to do everything himself and rarely uses his team mates to the best advantage. Its no coincidence that he's never played in the NBL playoffs regardless of what roster Cairns had when he was there. Its all well and good having a classy roster (and despite the results, Adelaide does have a good roster), but when the guy running the point isn't using his team mates its never going to work. Sure Gibbo's games at the point saw him put up big numbers, but if you notice some of his team mates did as well. With Wilson HE puts up good numbers, but his team suffers because of it. Stats only tell half of the story.

As for Matt Knight, he has had legit concussions from his head hitting the court at times over the last few seasons so I really so no need to think he is faking it when he goes down and starts holding his head. Booing him for it is just not cricket no matter how much we hate Perth.

Last night I think we just got out played by Perth. Gibbo was a passenger, Brock couldn't get into the game, Creek tried hard but I don't think he's fully fit, Luke was ok without being a major influence, and Wilson played his usual selfish game. Peach never stopped and Teys had his moments, but overall I think we were out enthused and out played. Simple as that.

And beating Perth is doable. United showed that only a few days ago. Perths Offense in particular was found wanting that night and that was the major difference between both teams.