(posted yesterday)

(@BrisbaneBullets)
Roster Update: Tyler Johnson, Tanner Krebs and Gorjok Gak will all return to the line-up for tomorrow night's game against Perth at Nissan Arena.

You would expect Perth to win but last time they lost @ Brisbane in overtime without Baynes playing.

Good to know Tyler Johnson might play I was starting to think he might've quietly left the team.

I'm tipping Perth by 12pts but really hoping it’s a tight contest till the final buzzer. Too many one sided matches for my liking this season.

Hopefully Mr Cotton can bring the cats home, Thomas has been good of late so unless Baynes finds old Baynes cats should be ok there. Brisbane on paper still have a very good team, players like Sobey have been bad but could light it up quickly. Travers to continue his last few positive games would be nice. This could be a lot closer than table positions suggest, I'd just like to see cats win as Brisbane don’t deserve to the way they treated former coach and then actually got worse.

The last game Perth lost before going on the current wining streak was at Brisbane. Having said that they are playing much better now and should win

I did say a couple of months ago, JD would be out and PC would be in...

The Cats last loss to Brisbane was the trigger for Rillie top change things up and they're 4-0 since. Cats are s completely different team and will win by double figures.

I did say a couple of months ago, JD would be out and PC would be in...

Over or Under 50 fouls called for the game?

It will probably be yet another blowout.

Would take either Krslovic or Bairstow over Baynes any day

The retired Bairstow or the JJs one, Krislovic lmao. Oh my.

Flopstaff doing his thing already in Q1.

Not sure why you'd challenge that

It wasn't a foul, you can’t call that, who made the contact after five steps.

Horrible last minute from Perth. Brisbane doing well. Amazing listening to the interview coach Vanderjagt saying they wanted to get back to playing the D like previous coach JD was put in place. Perth can't chuck it in the ocean, even cotton struggling. Refs again calling fouls that would not be call in any other league in the world.

Cotton air ball. Unbelievable

It's been back to the November version of the Cats so far.

Horrible.

Cats down by 10 at 3/4 time. Bad passes. No one driving to the hoop. All looking for Cotton to do it.

Webster missed 2 free throws to start the 4th. Seriously!

It'll need a big final 1/4 for cats to win this, they’ve been ok just can’t shoot. Manek is not much unless he’s scoring and that’s not happening. Sobey been excellent though he try’s to milk every decision. I’ll shut up on the refs other than stop blowing the pee out of it, even commentary is surprised on some of the calls.

WTF does Travers do. Fast break 1 nan in front. Drive to the hoop. No! Look for Cotton who butchers another shot

Surely Cats now make some shots now since they've missed so many. Down 6 with 6.30 left

Webster misses 4 free throws straight. Sucking big time

I don't get this league, they reward bullshit like sobey throwing it over his head with a foul, then cadee clearly found cotton on the drive, nothing...

Qld should get double whoppers with the amount of free throws we've missed

"Aaron Gordon eat your heart out!"

Ahh yeah, nah mate.

Sobey what the fuck were you doing??? LOL.

Topical Sobey selfish, Krebs open, he hero balls.

Bad free throws is bad basketball.

Thank you rucker Barnes was still moving across.

That's a pretty easy block call. Clearly moving sideways

Thomas misses 2 more free throws. Cats 19/36. Kids shoot better

Can anyone expand on the 'equipment issues' conversation JR was having with the ref?

Blanchfield worked but surely Travers should be in... what a waste of a game missing that many free throws

Perth has no one to blame but themselves. How the fuck do you miss so many FTs?

Why, every time when they throw to Derek Rucker, he says in his answer or question to one member of the commentary team. Extremely frustrating

I think this Gibbo or I think that Sauce. Grrrrrr

You miss a million free throws you deserve to lose.
No excuse for missing free throws. Next to a lay up it's as easy as you get it.

With all the calls sobey has gotten Webster could be at the line here, to miss two more lol

Perth Coach had questionable rotations for a lot of the game, the starters would build a lead and then lose it with the bench guys. Blanchfield in Overtime ?

Manek again has to be in focus, he has gone back to MIA in the last bunch of games. Time to roll in a replacement if they are serious in trying to make the playoffs.

Totally agree, Hendo.
Not just the free throws either. Bad performance in many ways by the Cats.

Cats 22/40 free throws. Pathetic.

Handy result for us

Rillie prolonged with the 5 on the court in OT. Blanchfield was giving us little. Travers was left on the bench with 4x3s. Norton was giving us nothing. We should have changed it up.
FTs killed us.

Brisbane crowd have been fantastic all year.
In the end bullets probably deserved the win
On the other side coin cats chucked it away, free throws
Manek hasn't been what he should be
Cotton shot has left him a bit
Travers should have played down the stretch ahead of Blanchfield
Webster can still play
Congratulations to Brisbane coach, comes over as a decent bloke
Krebs was good and helped when Cadee fouled out
Where to for big Harry from here.
It’s amazing how close games are exciting even if some of the play was horrible
Refs—— ——— oh my.

Agree with what you all saying about free throws. Also Rillie poor rotation of players seems to go into a shell and afraid to do anything at times. Cotton played for 43.51 isn't going to help with a players legs down the stretch

@Knowall. I agree on Rollie & rotations but Cotton & his minutes. He is a professional right?

@Jatz he is a pro no doubt, but he is averaging just over 35 minutes a game with the next being Creek on 33. 43 minutes IMHO is a bit over the top for any athlete.

So this season has already matched the total amount of overtimes there was last season.

2022-23 seems to cycle between overtime and blowout or occasionally an OT blowout.

Vandy did well tonight, constant rotations all game, really like the Gak kid, really liked the Gak/Baynes front court, congrats to Brisbane and Vandy's first win

There was a Townsville Crocodiles vibe going on tonight amongst the coaching ranks.

Rillie and Vanderjagt are former Crocs teammates and so are Crawford and Kelly.

Rillie replaced PC at SG for Townsville with the latter returning once the former was released.

was manek injured tonight? 0 points from 18+ minutes from one of your imports...

Manek is very hot and cold player, more cold than hot, he'll need a big finish to the season to make a positive.
What’s the story on Cotton, is he naturalising or is it a furphy.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thewest.com.au/sport/perth-wildcats/perth-wildcats-star-bryce-cottons-citizenship-application-to-drag-out-beyond-nbl-deadline-for-roster-changes-c-9257089.amp

it won't happen this season. you are right about manek beimg hot and cold dunkman. he seems like an ok guy. but this is a business and any new roster additions need to be suited up and playing in around 2 weeks. it cannot be for a player who is 206cm to be playing like a shooting guard when being monstered on the inside this season to be hot and cold. are the cats happy with 29 points once every ten games or winning the rebound count once every 10 games. when the 3s dont drop there is no backup game

Cotton's application has been plagued by government delays despite being married to an Australian and the couple having a daughter.

The former Federal government initially required him to leave Australia to finalise the Distinguished Talent Visa process. But that came during the pandemic when the nation’s borders were closed.

It took until February 2021 for the government to relent and make Cotton a permanent resident, but the three-time NBL MVP still remains in the dark about when his citizenship will be granted.

The Home Affairs office has consistently declined to answer questions about Cotton

If he received the permanent residency in 2021, which a talent visa enabled, he is still a couple of years away from the citizenship. From memory it used to be 3 years from the moment permanent residency was granted, not sure this can be bypassed. But who knows...

If everyone above is right and it's still a while it’s absolute bull shit, Perth fans should start a partition, get a few hundred thousand signatures and present it the new government, they are a lot more understanding. F..k he’s no bad guy, only to other teams.

The fact that they were planning on him being a citizen mid-season three years ago and he's still at least two years away does not speak well of whoever was involved in that earlier decision-making process.

@Dunkman Yes BC is absolutely a good guy. He should genuinely question Aus Govt why still no citizenship for him whereas there was no delay granting Tiny Pinder citizenship in late 80s with a child sex conviction on his record plus shouldn't have been here in the first place as he did not pass the character test to enter Aus with that criminal record. I’d have thought Bryce’s application would be straight forward, clean record, through by now.

Yep, there's definitely no difference between now and the 1980s in any way.

I cant help feel the cats are looking to miss post season again. Manek should of been moved on , its Frasier II all over again with a management not prepared to pull the trigger to get consistency.

Adelaide with Ian Clarke may just get that last spot.

Cats have coming up
- 2 x Sydney
- 2 X NZ

Mix inexperienced management, rookie coaching mistakes with poor fitting Imports and you have the recipe that is the cats season.

Cat fans got to be a bit patient, very hard to go from dominance over a long period of time. They lost there owner, great coach and most of their depth of Australian core players. Rebuilds take time and competition from other big spending clubs. Rillie hasn't done to badly, yes they might miss finals bit it looks improvement is happening.

@koberulz
Yep, there's definitely no difference between now and the 1980s in any way.



Section 501 of the Migration Act 1989 defines the 'character test’. The legislation (and Ministerial Directions) is quite broad in application; however, some examples of why an applicant (or visa holder) may not pass the character test can include:
They have a substantial criminal record
They pose a threat or danger to the Australian community
The Minister believes the person is not of good character due to their past of present conduct.


Do your research @koberulz. Pinder would not pass the character test today and he did not pass the character test in 1989 but was somehow still allowed entry into our country numerous times and was even granted citizenship.

Meanwhile... poor Bryce.

This would be relevant if the same people were making the decisions, but they're not. It's irrelevant.

"Cats have coming up
- 2 x Sydney
- 2 X NZ "


Perth are unbeaten against Sydney & NZ this season ;-)

Very doubtful a couple of hundred thousand signatures could be achieved to get Cotton naturalised, probably couldn't get that many for or against covid restrictions a few years ago.
There's been instances of refugees being deported back where they allegedly faced death and were petitions and legal battles. I doubt the government is going to fast track a citizenship application because a rich athlete stands to make his current team better. Even if that athlete could make the current national team significantly better, which he doesn't.
Based on last couple of seasons, what are Perth going to do anyway, bring in an extra underperforming import to take his place?

Cotton getting naturalised would free up money for the cats as most of his money would go into the marquee category. It would allow them more spending money without going over the cap.

I hate that, I understand once your naturalised different rules apply. The nbl just need to make a new rule for all imports if they want to stay long term then they can be not counted as an import. Makes each teams rosters stronger and it's good for the NBL because will get more naturalise players like Cotton becoming Australian/New Zealand of their choice. It would make more sense if the NBL wanted to expand in Singapore/Indonesia or Philippines if they wanted to join the NBL. Just adds more depth to each team.

I know it sounds silly but have the rule in place if you have a naturalise player like Cotton then Cotton counts as their long term import player even if naturalised.

Poor Cotton or poor Red Army wanting a new import?

Yeah let's change every rule in the rule book do Perth can have an extra import...

It's got nothing to do with Perth imo, if a person wants to become an Australian, is an upstanding citizen, has work and is paying taxes, it should not take years to happen. Surely Australia can’t be that incompetent. This doesn’t only imply to Cotton, doctors, nurses, trades people etc.

It's not about Perth. It’s so the NBL rosters can be more competitive when Canberra, Darwin get teams.