Can't recall when I was Less excited about a Wildcats' game.

I mean really, without Bogut what is there to look forward to? LOL

But seriously, I am struggling to think of any positives, it doesn't exactly scream blockbuster.

Cairns I'm afraid are just sad. Struggling manfully, but just don't have the personnel. Perth need to deliver a thrashing, and even then, so what. If White goes for 40 points, it just confirms what we already know.

Bring on next round

Couple of nice bets for tonight.

Perth win/over 168.5/Cotton 20+ points @ $6
Perth win/over 168.5/Kay 15+ points @ $6.50

Get on.

"Crazy if you think this game is going overs."

Crazy if you don't think Cats are going to push 90-100pts tonight.

Cats are averaging 94 pts per game at home. They have gone below 90 pts at home just once.

Perth by 20.
Looking forward to next week Adelaide and Melbourne that will be a test of where Perth are at.

Cairns haven't scored lower than 70pts this season. Averaging 85pts per game.

Definitely could go under, but using stats I think the over is more likely than the under.

Thus has all the makings of a typical Perth by 20 win at home. Snakes will probably try moving the ball, turn it over five times in the first quarter and Perth will keep them away all game.

Back at home for the first time in three weeks, they'll be up for it without doubt

Good game to some confidence, have the team just seems they over play. You open you shoot the ball. Really like cairns and Illawarra.

Very rare they get blown out and if only other teams played like they do every game.

Both Illawarra and Cairns are 1 closer out being a top four Team. Perth has cotton, Ware for united Patterson Brisbane Sydney has a few.

Win lose it's good to go watch a game live, 4 weeks is a long time in a season to play away.

Thank you Kevin Braswell for getting Weeks back out there!

was Kevin Braswell coaching in this game as well ? :) XOXO :)

Redhage toeing the company line.

Taipans looking good so far

If there is one thing the NBL has taught me these past 2 rounds it's that the fast break ankletap is either an unsportsmanlike or a no call, every time.

Perth looking crap so frar

great ankle tap, accidental, but still unsportsmanlike.

Anyone who says the Wildcats don't need a third import is delusional.. and that includes Gleeson

From my understanding Gleeson doesn't have much power in this 3rd import.

He gains nothing by coming out and saying he's been told it ain't happening

Getting owned by the league's worst
What a shame

Some showtime from Waxy, the ole behind the back and into the stands pass.

Wildcats consistently struggle to score when the bench is on the court. If Gleeson doesn't have much say in the third import question then he isn’t really the coach is he? Who else deserves to make that call other than the coach?

Brutal

Jesus, imagine if the boys get up here

The ones forking out the money over the cap tend to have the say on whether it gets the go ahead.

Sucks for us. But it seems that's how it is. I can't say I know this for a fact. From what info I could get I was told this. But it's still just speculation.

Gleeson did want another import I was told. But was told it's not happening.

The general manager, presumably?

HT PER 32-44 CNS

Trimble with 21pts.

@Angus I wrote at length about the situation in the D day thread earlier today.

Think so Angus.

But I'm not even certain what I was told is accurate.

So I'm not going all in on it.

Half-time, Perth $2.35. Get on now.

It'll be a red tide in the second half after a Gleeson bake for the ages. He's yelling right this second, I can hear it from thousands of kilometres away

$2.58 on Betfair.

Gleeson can yell all he wants, they can't do anything about Jawai inside and Trimble. Couldn’t guard them with a shotgun

Meeeeelo Trimble

Redhage: "Mee-low Trimble"

lolwut

And yes, it looks like Mike Kelly has figured out that to be a good head coach you have to be harder at times.. all credit to him

Lol... Cut his leg off.

Now there's a gameplan

You see that Half Time interview with Trimble?
Gotta be substance abuse.
Either he's been on valium all season or tonight they’ve spiked his suck tube.

Yikes. That transition D explains why Cairns have won 2 games.

Just over a minute into the second half and this thing is over...

Thanks Manu.

I'm crediting the win to you if we can find our way back

Grdybuoy he did look different. Interesting.

Looked healthy milking that 4pt play.

Newbill with a Harden like stepback three. Nice.

Cotton bought the Waxy pumpfake like he was guarding himself... weird.

Wow. Offensive foul?

Lol the comment about what Homocide's reaction would be if Cairns win.. now that would be something to see

Aylen is blind.

Lol shocker....

Clearly off cotton

Awful refereeing, but hey, it's Aylen, what more would you expect.

Hall dagger.

Easily cotton's worst shooting game for Perth.

Trimble + Kawai easily the difference.

Can't see Perth getting this one.
Straight after saying no third import required they are getting embarrassed by Cairns.

At 3QT I still think Perth wins this

Get on the $5.10 then.

what a joke this league is

Perth has never come back from over 5pts down at 3QT at home according to Reid. Surprised.

How big is the sample size tho? Perth is so often up a 3QT

Manu

Perth aren't playing well enough to win it.

But a struggling, cellar dweller team with chemistry issues and a rookie coach just might lose it in the 4th.

A shame really. Cairns need a win.

Jawai turning back the clock with tonight's performance.

Yeah, that last turnover aside Jawai has looked great.

Is Dione 69 also the blowout troll.
Complaining about the league but watching this game anyway.

Martin beginning to hack like an old came farmer. God love him

He's cooked IMO.

Ten point margin again.

I think it's Cotton time. Little bastard will nail at least a couple triples between now and the end.

Jawai was even more impressive last week

7 points with over 4 mins remaining is plenty of time.. but with the wildcats scoring woes 7 points is a lot.. Cairns scores 2 more times its curtains.. and as I write this Trimble drops a triple

Why the hell did Steindl only get 5 mins in the first three quarters.

Cotton clanking it. Jinx!

The problem is they are too reliant on Cotton. Can't expect to light it up every night

Bryce 'bonk' Cotton

Bonkers

Gonna be some happy trolls around Aus when Cairns finish this off and beat us.

They deserve the win. We have been horrible for a while now. And they played well tonight

Why do people harp on about the no 3rd import?

I would have thought Perth have simply chosen to allocate the money for a 3rd import to their locals instead.

Perth literally have guys like Norton, Kay, Brandt, Martin, Jervis, Wagstaff and Steindl as their locals. Not a bad crop of players there.

No?

Don't think so.

Just an off night. Everything rimmed out for him early.

Oh wow. Cotton splashes it. Three point margin all of a sudden.

Cats were @ $21 just before it too.

Not sure about splash. It was still a bonker. But it was his second triple since the timeout

Cotton is both a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because he can single-handedly win games.

But also a curse because the way he plays, his style and how much ball he needs can really kill the Perth offense.

Perth winning because of Cotton's heroics is boring and masks a lot of issues that they have. Hopefully he doesn't do it here again.

Newbill block bails Cats out since now they can reset for a three.

Stiendl steps out of court. KFHIDHkhdjvbdjnckmdlsmkkfmkmkemlc

LOL

Lol.. game has left Damo behind.

4 steals tonight.

Yep. A guy who's past it clearly.


Although in some ways I do agree with you. Just completely disagree with how you worded it

OMG Taipans throw it away. Wowowowow

Double LOL

Devon Hall once again with the pathetic inbounds pass- WHY THE EFF did he take the pass (he's done it before), Mike Kelly shame for allowing that!!

Video review with 6.3s remaining to see who has possession. Looks like Cats ball.

Off Hall.

Cats go again for a two. But no timeouts.

Cotton limping.

...interesting.

Either way going to be a Hail Mary for the tie/win here.

Yes. Don't think it was the right play.

The longest 60 seconds ever.

Hail Mary to steindl when Cairns go the press

(since no timeouts left)

What would bring Perth's season closer to an end?

1. Failing to beat Cairns tonight
2. Cotton potential injury

Cotton buzzer beater was close-ish. Swingy, entertaining game. Although it sucks that I'm right about the direction of the club. 3-7 now.

Cairns won and all but I feel like you foul Cotton on the inbounds there and send him to the line for 2 rather than risk a Cotton hero moment.

I'm still not as worried as you are PW

not happy. But not worried

Well done to Cairns, Perth tried to turn the switch on late and it came back to bite them. Surely they have to get the third import now. A beast stretch 4 that can shoot the 3 and play 5 defensively when a Brandt goes to bench would be perfect

Well deserved win by Cairns. Trimble big early, Newbill solid, and Jawai continuing a resurgent season. Credit to Perth for pulling it back, though. They really made a game of it, just unlucky in the end. Cairns really tightened that perimeter defence to deny them a 3 and chance of tying. Great game.

Perth's offence just looks very slow, there's alot of dribbling, guys holding onto the ball for too long, not much movement.

I think they need to find a way to either get more baskets in transition and/or speed up their half-court offense.

Cotton shot 26 times tonight! of a combined 69 team shots. It's clear that they're offense is so predicated on putting him in iso sets.

They need to find a way to try and re-integrate him into the offense so that the team is getting shots off their offense and not off willy-nilly iso, late clock situations.

Bonehead play of the year, taking a 2 with no timeouts

Can't wait to see Homocides comments.. this will be worth watching

...after burning the last timeout trying the same thing earlier!

Cotton looks like the player who has carried Perth for 3 seasons straight. His body is saying I need some help here. Looks like Gleeson is treating him like coal, just keeps stoking the fire hoping it produces enough energy every game.

Perth's offence does look very stagnant, but it’s hard to figure out why they are so dependent on Cotton. Apart from Martyn, none of their major rotational players are too substandard in the right sets. Getting out on transition would help, and they are one of the better offensive rebounding teams. They are probably missing another quality ball handler to pair with Cotton as a secondary playmaker (both Norton and Martyn are not dangerous off the dribble, and White shirks that responsibility, especially late in games).

NZ supporters also had a great night.

Homicide has already gone in.

https://twitter.com/chomicide/status/1083706943762444288?s=19

F*ck Homicide.

Honestly I feel like an oracle, called it a month ago and only now everyone is catching up.

Homicide is a grade A twat.
It's OK that he hates on Perth but how many rings does he have?

I said twat but I meant to say asshole.
You did call it Perthworld.
I hope Perth go back on their word and make the change.
Its not too late

Good result tonight for getting the pot stirred even harder.

Cairns still have a better win loss ratio in 2019.

Perth are yet to win a game in 2019

It's amazing how Perth losing brings the whole community together. Tonight was just one big handshake emoji

Yes Jack winless in 2019 with your Turdysixers next.
At least you had to wait all game to confirm that though :D

2-7 with the two wins against Cairns since winning against NZ on 25 NOVEMBER. :o

Goddamn Shit & Corruption, that was the most pathetic display I have seen in a long time.
So much for being "inspired". No Passion, no commitment, no endeavour.
Cats came out half-arsed and the game was lost in the first half.

Rapidly losing respect for certain people.
Ok, you've been a champion, you've given great service, and you deserve your accolades and milestones.
In fact, at the start of this season I thought you all deserved another ing before retirement.
That doesn't mean you get to drag the whole team down while they carry you to the finish line. Need to man up. Either play like you want it, or fall on sword and bring in the 3rd import.

And what's the fucking point in playing Kay at the 5, when we have fucking nobody to back up the 4. Between Wagstaff, Hire, and Vague, they basically contributed SFA.

Perth have far bigger problems than Homocides comments. Any good plan is flexible, they need to change their thinking. Have they overspent on their current roster which means the front office are reluctant to spend more? That's the way it’s looking to me. What’s Josh Childress doing? If he is healthy he would be a good fit

The 11 man roster gives great opportunity for an "11th man". Either a young turk, or a Veteran. Unfortunately we have FIVE of them.
We should have plenty of money under the $420k bench-cap for a 3rd import, because between those 5 they're only worth about $100k for the lot.

Too late, Childress signed in Japan about a month ago.. well that type of player who can shoot, create his own shot and is long/ athletic would be ideal. Need more creativity on offense from our personnel

Kumbaya my lord, Kumbaya.
Trev mate where's the heart, Kumbaya.
Please Trev getusanewimportplease, Kumbaya.
Mitch Norton whereyougonemateweneedyou, Kumbaya.
What's up management wheresthecash, Kumbaya.
Red Army's having conniptions, Kumbaya.
Please help us deargod, Kumbaya.

Fuck healthy, Childress on one leg would be better than what we saw tonight.

It's always puzzled me, why the people they have for the half-court challenge are complete boobs who apparently have never shot a ball in their life.
Now I think I have it figured out, the team doesn't want to be upstaged.

Please tell me again Trev how this group of guys is playing for each other.

I approached this season with optimism after we got rid of deadwood DKD, Walker, Kenny and Cooke Jr.
Now we have Hire, Wagstaff and Jervis contributing fuck all.
Father time is catching Martin too.

Am I the only Perth fan who thinks Gleeson is no longer the man for the job?

Hogwash.. I agree. Gleeson has no Plan B. Once you scout out his offenses the team bogs down, it has happened every season. The only saving grace was the year we had Ennis who was a class above that particular season, when Cotton first came and played with Prather and when we had Jawai- he had to be double teamed in the post and is a great passer. Won championships each of those years but with the talent league wide in the import spots and nba veterans like Bogut around we no longer have the best talented team. Which means we don't win the championship. Gleeson was always a great recruiter whereas Bevo was a development coach. Not allowing Gleeson to get a 3rd import is removing his greatest strength.

Perths offence is so stagnant it is disgusting. Start of the year, ball in post theu were running a double pick on the weakside, kick out for a wide open three. Now, ball goes to the post and they all jist stand around. I worked out why they aren't getting to the line either, because they are settling for jump shots or throwing up little floaters. There was a couple min patch to start the third, went hard at the rim, got two and ones.... perth has fallen in love with their jumper, and they look like an under 16's team going through the motions on offence before giving it to the best player.

On another note, melo trimble sure didn't get his pants pulled down tonight!

Gleeson's offensive "sets" and rotations make me livid.

Ennis was as mentioned a class above as was Cotton in his first stretch of games leading up to 45 pt match.

How many more times do I have to watch Cotton drive into the packed key with Hire standing in the corner. Steindl might have his defensive deficiencies but at least he requires marking at all times and some spacing.

Move the ball around and cut ffs!

I might be sick if I see another Brandt post up to start a match.

Gleeson is a good coach, but he is very much "by the numbers".
And the fact is, that say whatever you want about his time elsewhere, he is accustomed to having the players he can rely upon to execute his routines, and step up when required.

And normally he would run predominately a 9 man rotation, with probably 6 players seeing the bulk of the minutes. Problem is that isn't working, so he's improvising.
He's being forced to run Kay at the 5, then just throw rubbish at the 3 & 4 spots and hope something sticks.

Sometimes building a squad, and even a game, can be about shuffling your pieces around to compensate and fill gaps.
3 years back, out of the blue, we signed Jawai coming back from Europe. Seemed absurd, but we shuffled Knight to the 4, and used Wagstaff and Redhage to backup the 3 & 4, and it worked.

Kay & Norton aren't noted 3 point shooters, and Tokoto certainly wasn't, so we tried to balance that with White. It hasn't worked.
The related problem is that Hire, Wagstaff, and Vague seem to have completely lost their 3-point touch. Previously we got away with being overly tall, by being able to stretch. At the moment we can't.

All of which just compounds the problem we have with Brandt being out of sorts, and Jervis struggling to step up.

The set where they ran Vague at the five against Jawai was hilarious.

I only caught the last 5 minutes of the game.

A good win for Cairns no doubt, but what really caught my attention is that the team appeared totally disengaged.

The bench players sat in their seats with stony looks on their faces and didn't react (ie cheer) to any buckets et al despite the game being so close. Then during timeouts nobody seemed to give a shit about what Kelly was saying. Red flags for me.

On the other hand despite losing, the Perth bench was getting in to the game and the entire team was with Gleeson during timeouts.

A real issue is Martins scoring for the mins played. A starter playing 20+ plus mins averaging 4pts a game is way below par. Made one basket last night only from just two attempts, from your starting point guard. Any other player on a team and everyone would be calling for his head with that output. Perth really messed up keeping Hire in this squad.

I don't have too many issues with the individuals on the team and what they (potentially, when not playing like rubbish) bring. It's more a synergy thing IMO.
Effective rotations is coaching, not players.
Beating teams on the road while missing multiple players, compared to losing at home to a bottom feeder ... that's a group changing from playing well, to playing like crap. That's clearly not a personnel thing.
Throwing personnel-based solutions at a shitty-game-style problem is not going to fix things IMO.
I'm not suggesting it would be ideal to go forward next season with Hire, Jervis & Wagstaff, but they're definitely not the root cause of the team struggling right now. When your team sucks, it's not random bench players who should be copping the blame.

Gleeson is a good coach

Gleeson's offensive "sets" and rotations make me livid.

Luuuc when opposition teams have figured out how to defend the offenses and all the wildcats are left with is a 1 on 1 situation on short clock they need another player who can create his own shot apart from Cotton.

I agree with Luuuc that random bench players shouldn't directly cop the blame after all this is the same team that started the season 10-1 with multiple games missed to injuries.

Martin gives virtually nothing on offense.
Norton has taken a backwards step since Martin's return.
Brandt just hasn't clicked all year we are fortune Kay has picked up the slack.
White = inconsistent
Wagstaff looks cooked didn't even attempt a field goal in 12 mins last night.

"I don't think the money is there for a 3rd Import - Cotton on a 3 year deal would be on a truckload of money."

Boom, this is exactly what I'm thinking.

Perth elected to sign guys like Kay and Norton from Illawarra (on a lot more money than what they were getting there) IN LIEU of getting a 3rd import.

IMO, Perth aren't shorthanded insofar as they're not omitting to sign an extra player (3rd import) - IMO, it's a simple case of them electing to sign those two and a whole host of locals over the 3rd import, in which case, they have to live with the roster they've formed.

The team doesn't seem to be running the sets all the way through, or running them with any vigor. Damo has never been a scorer, hasn't mattered.

Agree ^^^

Not having a third import is not the issue. In think White needs to be more aggressive and demand the ball when the team needs it. If they cant get that from him then he should be replaced with a better import that can find multiple ways to score if his three point shot isn't dropping.

They are missing the Prather type that can get to the hoop smash the O boards and defend. Putting Kay at the five was worth a try last night but they lose too much in defense and rebounding at the 3 and 4. Wildcats rely on getting multiple shots on offense but wagstaff vague and white aren't noted strong rebounders.

"I don't think the money is there for a 3rd Import - Cotton on a 3 year deal would be on a truckload of money."

Boom, this is exactly what I'm thinking.

Perth elected to sign guys like Kay and Norton from Illawarra (on a lot more money than what they were getting there) IN LIEU of getting a 3rd import.

I get the impression the club thought they could template/replicate the Martin-Knight duo success with Norton-Kay ignoring the fact Bevo is a better developer of talent and was with the former pair pre-NBL in juniors.

Sorry I just can't follow all the people claiming "Oh its just the players playing shit, replacing them (with non-shit) wouldn't help."

Or pointing out that we spent big in the off-season, like that's some kind of profound revelation, and/or excuses poor performance.

Or sprouting crap like "we did that instead of 3rd import" FMD

There's no magical law that says you must have 3 imports, nor are "3 imports" any guarantee of success. If we had Sydny's money to spend on Local Marquees, we'd probably get by with just one.

The point is that we have a bunch of players all massively under performing, and replacing any of those would be a significant boost. You should also remember that even near its best, this squad was still not good enough to beat Sydney or Melbourne.

The Further issue is that the reason so many are under-performing, is that they are too old and tired. Hire, Wagstaff, and Jervis, are basically cooked. Yes, like anyone, they'll have up and down games, but as happens to everyone their outputs are tapering off and you can't turn back the hands of time.
If we had suitable replacements waiting in the wings, nobody would be talking about imports, but we don't.

Yep. If someone is underperforming - i.e. playing below their ability - just replace them. Don't worry about trying to fix things to help them play to their ability again. Just turf em out the door and bring in someone else. So easy to do, so great for team culture, and long term so good for a club's reputation with players, agents, and fans.
AD for CEO!

AD any team thats not at their best will lose to sydney and melbourne. They are quality sides! I disagree the cats were near their best when they played these two teams. Form wise and missing personnel on occasions.

They really have their work cut out now to make the playoffs especially now it looks as though i wont get my wish on replacing White. In saying that this team has looked sensational at times this year. They are just devoid of confidence at the moment and are very stagnant in offense as a result. Other teams have worked out how to defend them and they lack variety in ways of scoring. This is where a third import would help if cotton or white are having an off night then there is no one else to step up with the scoring load.

"The Further issue is that the reason so many are under-performing, is that they are too old and tired. Hire, Wagstaff, and Jervis, are basically cooked."
So these players, when the "stars" were out played 20 minutes and won games, they performed, but now suddenly old and cooked?
The only thing is cooked is the meth in your pipe, how do you expect players to perform in 5 minutes(if that) in a game, surely even you AD can see that you can't win games when no plays are run for you and the coach has no faith in you!
Also, unless i'm mistaken even if one of those players "retires" his salary stays on the books, so it's not "replace them with an import wouldn't cost more", the import's wages goes on top of the existing salary cap.
I'm sure this is case when someone gets "injured", not sure about retirement.
Fans expect the club to fork out another 200K, most forget/had no idea that Bendat also owns Perth Lynx, shock surprise, that cost money as well, but hey, it's easy to tell someone to throw his money out on the window, everyone is an expert how long doesn't cost them their hard earned

I think Perth's problem is personnel. Martin plays 20+ mins and doesn't score which puts more pressure on others. I have posted many times previously about Perth not making tough decisions regarding Martin, Wagstaff and Hire, etc yet they kept Hire on their roster, I assume as insurance instead of looking ahead to the future. Redhage gave Perth so much all those years it has been very difficult for them to recover. Wagstaff, Kay and Vague all play the same position and Hire warms the bench and Martin doesn't score. Where do you get your other 60+ pts from after Cotton scores his 20?
Perth may still come good and get some confidence back, but maybe the opposition team are defending them better and getting them out of their comfort as their offence has dropped considerably.

What do you suggest TH62? Stand pat and continue to lose games? I can understand a bad game or maybe two bad games in a row but if a 2-7 record of late isn't a glaring warning sign, then what the hell is?
I don’t give a damn about what happened early in the season, that is fools gold! This is the business end and the quality teams show up at this time.
If the owner doesn’t want to spend the money on picking up another weapon then maybe he should sell out. Paying for talent is part and parcel of the business, always has been, no need to whimper and whine about it. By your logic the team should save money by stocking up with SBL players irrespective of performance. Might save money but doesn’t deliver the results.
Fans here are used to winning and maybe we have been spoiled but I don’t see the logic in making excuses or reminiscing about long past glorious times. The highest form of discipline is living in the present moment and presently the team sucks.
One of Wagstaff, Hire or Jervis need to be replaced by an import.. that is a need, not a want.. there is a difference.

Hey Einstein.. $200k was mentioned in the previous post.. now put that in your pipe and smoke it

" Hey Einstein.. $200k was mentioned in the previous post.. now put that in your pipe and smoke it"
" Fans expect the club to fork out another 200K,"

I never once said that Hire gets 200K, you should ask your dealer for your money back, he sold you chalk instead of the good stuff (you shouldn't shop in Rockingham) :)
Selling the team: please name one person who buy the team and would run it the way Bendat did!
He has a vision and paid good money to achieve what he did, sure as hell he spent way more than he made with the Wildcats.
You demanding to spend more because you don't care is a hoot, apart from your welfare officer and your case worker is there anyone else who cares about your opinion?
No matter what the members will still attend, sure, they will be mad and disappointed, but till the footy season what else is here in Perth?
The team selected the team, signed the players before the season started, till they started losing everyone said that it was the right team, even when injuries hit, but the team was winning all was good.
My point was that the players that you (and others are bagging) performed pretty well, suddenly, couple weeks later they're burnt out, old, they can't play any more.
My points were that the 3 players that everyone carps about took a total of 3 shots in a total of 22 minutes, but somehow they were supposed to win the game.
Secondly i do question of what happened with Perth when they were seemingly cruising, winning games with basically their bench ( and if you put your pipe down you realize that it wasn't at the start of the season, either), but suddenly they got old and washed out.
One player might be down on form, but not half the team, i can't see any X and Os changing, only the " we need Wildcats basketball" rah rah slogans