And the Bullets game was their 4th in 7 days?

I assume the new Kidd hasn't arrived yet?

Going to be a great game, but Perth, at home, should be better.

A lot will come down to Flopking. If he starts hitting his 3's. he can turn a game on its head.

A lot will come down to Flopking. If he starts hitting his 3's. he can turn a game on its head.

United will finally beat their bogey team tonight

United actually led for most of the game in both early season meetings

Both times the Cats won it with seconds remaining

That's actually 3 times in a row where the Cats got it at the death, if you count the pre season matchup in Geelong In September

But United was missing Barlow, Goulding and Prather in the Perth game, and in the return bout on a Sunday in Melbourne, United had just hopped off the plane after playing in Sacramento on the Thursday

Perth just gets the clutch wins over United, it's happened so many times over the past 3 years. But the curse might be broken tonight.

Shaun Long has potential to be the difference maker; to do it, he's gotta show some mental toughness and fight It out vs this resilient Cats group.

Can't wait.

United has 12 games left, they need to win 6 to guarantee playoffs and they'd probably make it with 5

9 of those 12 games are against teams other than Perth and Sydney

United has a 8-3 record against other teams. Kidd joining for next game

Chances of missing the playoffs are roughly equivalent to the chances of one of us forum posters playing in an NBL game this season

[Chances of missing the playoffs are roughly equivalent to the chances of one of us forum posters playing in an NBL game this season]

That is if they stay relatively healthy. If Goulding and McCarron went down with season ending injuries they'd probably miss the playoffs.

[I think the way Perth embarrassed the United in the GF series has played with their physique against Perth.]

I'll have to check the numbers to confirm but I believe in 16-17 Perth beat United 4 out of 4 and all were under 5 points

There was also the game Caspar missed the layup last year

Perth has been United's bogey team, not consistently but regularly, for a number of years

Just checked the history, actually Perth won by 3 points or less all 4 games in 16-17

Since the start of the 16-17 season United has a 5-13 record against Perth

But in games decided by 5 points or less, it's 1-9.

And almost all of those games were decided by 3 points or less. One was 5 points in OT also

Since the game's in Perth, it's almost guaranteed the Cats will get plenty of calls.

Don't have to be nostradamus to see that one coming.

United will have to be a 10 or 15 point better team tonight to get the win

LV vs the city of Perth.

No matter how outnumbered he'll take the lot of them on with a religious zealotry.

Perth should take this based on form, but United can beat anyone if their big guns are firing. Should be a fun game.

Melbourne by 9pts. Paying $8.30, $50 on that for Christmas.

Underdogs are 3/3 so far this round, United's time to shine?

Still early in the game but Derwane has bought out the "shake and bake" wait for the "where ever you are watching around the planet" it should be before half time....

Perth coach carrying on like a pork chop

any other coach would be T'd up

Need a block and rebound king. You'll find they will replace Hunt next week.

Cold as it gets, nothing to give this game.

Wow @ that tech foul. Terrible.

Score flattered us. Totally outplayed and out coached

Brisbane, Adelaide, South East Melbourne all lost, Wildcats knew this and took it easy.

Martin admitted it.

Is there a betting special on all the underdogs I missed?


After Sydney dropped one this is one Perth needed to edge closer to top spot.

Anyone know what happened with Martin?
I assume he must have been injured?

I don't know what was funnier, Perth's performance or the Froling commercial afterwards.

Was that why they had the weird yellow trim on their necklines? Looked horrible.

You need to have really good eyesight to see him. Pointless design.

You'd think it shouldn't happen, but it does.

Last week against Brisbane was shit. There was no focus, no intensity, and in a game we should have had put away, the Cats coasted to an ugly victory.

It should not carry over to a week later, but whatever the reason the same malaise was present. Cats defence was almost non-existent, Trimble and Co owned the floor ans could do as they please, whilst at the other end the Cats were completely unfocussed, randomly tossing up bricks.

The Steindl bubble burst, as it does periodically, and nobody stepped up to fill the gap.

Credit to Melbourne, they were on song from the tip-off. Perth weren't.

Martin must have been injured. Looked out of sorts in the first half and was benched for most of the 2nd.

Still not really sure what Trev is doing with the whole Jook/ Hunt/ Vague rotation??
Hunt was ok, but looked lost at times.

Hope so.

Hopefully Cotton naturalises, plays for the 'Cats until the end of his prime and transitions after that.

That's called a statement game.

Perth's been destroyed 3 times on their home court this year. Their rivals are still getting settled with Lisch and Prather having barely played, Cooks finding his feet, Pledger a while away.

Perth need an upgrade on Hunt, otherwise a healthy Sydney or United will easily account for them in the playoffs.

As we saw in Melbourne earlier this year, the Boomers are better than a bunch of NBA stars. With Boomer level now being better than NBA level, it is only fair that Bryce Cotton be eligible to be paid by the league to play NBL under the NextBoomers program, and not count as an import.

P.S. That was crap, Wildcats.

#781987 I believe Redhage was naturalised ASAP and it took him four years, with no basketball played in any country during that span as I believe that would reset or increase the time it takes to wait for citizenship eligibility.

Whereas it took Lisch seven years with stints overseas.

So for Cotton that would mean 2021 but he did play in Italy after one NBL season so that hampers things.

To be eligible to apply for Australian citizenship, you must have: Been an Australian permanent resident for at least 1 year and lived in Australia for at least 9 out of 12 months before you apply. Been lawfully resident in Australia for at least 4 years before you apply.

Actually come to think of it you don't get PR unless you apply for it so who knows when Cotton received it or if/when the club told him to get it for the future? Probably when he signed his first long-term contract? Not that simple without this information.

So it's one year before receiving PR and four years after that for citizenship. Cotton's first long-term NBL contract was signed before the 2018-19 season so assuming he applied for it after knowing he was staying here for the foreseeable future that would make it mid-2023 if 1+4?. Mid-2022 if 4. May be too old by then.

Scrap that 4+1 it's four but too many variables that we the people don't know like what date it would start from.

Maybe the Wildcats need to tell Peter Dutton that Cotton is an au pair to help expediate the process? Brainstorming here.

Cotton re-signed with Perth to a 3 year contract in 2018.

There are many different factors that affect Residency Status and Naturalisation.

By Far the Easiest route is to have an Australian Spouse and Child.
That's why Lisch was quick when he returned.

That also applies to Cotton.
He & Rachel had a baby a few weeks back.

Yes, Cotton has had a couple of "off" games. Not sure what to put that down to.
Better defence/ more coaches working him out?

Its not the end of the world, just need others to step up, which unfortunately hasn't happened on a couple of occasions.

Personally, I wish teams would just go back to writing off their Perth games. Getting spanked in the Jungle is getting a bit old.

Your 0 and 4 this week Jack Toft, your as good as Corey Williams

I think the info above is out of date. From the Home Affairs Department website, the criteria that apply to Cotton are:
"- be a permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen when you apply and when we decide your application
- be in Australia when we decide on your application in most cases
- have spent time in Australia and know about our country
- intend to live in Australia or maintain a lasting link with Australia while overseas"

So he should meet these criteria, based on his long term contract.

Cotton applied for citizenship in August 2019 (as reported in WA media). Department of Home Affairs provides stats that say 75% of applications are decided and citizenship ceremonies conducted within 22 months of the application. Unfortunately, they don't give stats on average or minimum times. They do give numbers of applications received per month and how many they currently have in their in-tray.

Given that info, I expect Cotton has a good chance of becoming an Australian citizen before the start of next NBL season. That would be 14 months after his application. By Olympics is probably not going to happen.

Perthworld corrected himself above. Its one year after getting Permanent Residency.
Permanent Residency can be tricky, bot not for Cotton since he has an Australian Spouse.
Now according to the media report, he applied for Citizenship in or before August. So it that is correct he already had PR for at least 12 months.

The rest is a matter of process, time, and formality.

The problem at the moment is that they are snowed under. According to the most recent figures (as of a week ago) there were over 135k applications in process.

Now that said, I'm sure that as in most things, if you have a quiet word to the right person, things can go quicker. For starters, I imagine he would have used a Professional Agent, who would make sure that all documents were correct, and generally smooth the process.
I don't necessarily think Cotton would be a high priority for the Boomers, but if he was, I tend to think that "Olympics" is one way to get your application to the top of the pile.

Cotton applied for citizenship in August 2019 (as reported in WA media).

https://thewest.com.au/sport/perth-wildcats/fatherhood-and-citizenship-beckon-wildcats-star-bryce-cotton-ng-b881283584z