Blanchfield Reflects on Milestone

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

The Perth Wildcats celebrated NBL veteran Todd Blanchfield’s 350th game in the competition in style, defeating the Cairns Taipans by a comfortable 29 points on Monday night.

After struggling in Perth’s opening games of the season, Blanchfield found his groove against the Taipans to explode for 17 points on 60 per cent shooting. He was one of five Wildcats to hit double figures in points in what was a strong team performance.

Blanchfield began his career at the Townsville Crocodiles in 2009, and he took some time to reflect on his time in the NBL so far post-game.

“I’m very fortunate to see 350 games in this league,” he said. It’s a very good league and to see where it was to where it is now, it’s pretty special to be a part of.

“I can’t exactly remember how old I was but I was eating breakfast in the off-season one time and I saw on Fox Sports that the Crocs had folded and they weren’t even sure if there was going to be an NBL. To see where the league is now, to go through that low and to ride that high to be a part of this league is pretty special.

“The body feels great and every day you get to come in and do what you love, and look to get better somehow whether it’s recovery, shooting, whatever it might be. It’s just a privilege to be able to come in and do that every day.”

Blanchfield Lead Todd Blanchfield has turned out for five NBL teams over the course of his career.

Blanchfield was far from the only experienced Wildcat to have a day out against the young and emerging Cairns outfit.

Vice-captain Mitch Norton finished just one assist shy of a first career double-double in his 289th NBLgame. He ended the game with 16 points and nine assists, while captain Jesse Wagstaff contributed 12 points from the bench.

Bryce Cotton was at his mercurial best with 24 points, including two four-point plays, and Majok Majok stepped into a starting position to ably cover the absent TaShawn Thomas.

“Ever since I got the job I’ve preached unselfishness, playing [as a] team, playing for your teammates and giving them confidence. That’s the way we approach it everyday,” head coach John Rillie said.

“Tonight, it was only a matter of time before some of our shooters started making shots and it was nice to see it go through. You see us at practice, our guys stay behind, they put in the extra work, they put in the time and effort, so at some stage you will get rewarded.

“As you’ve seen from us in the pre-season we had different guys injured at different times and that’s what happened tonight. As you saw statistically we had a lot of contributors across the board.

“Tonight we saw the depth of our team and the versatility.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">THREE THREES already for Toddy Blanchfield in his 350th! ?<br><br>? Watch live on ESPN via Kayo & Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/q0YZboj35E">pic.twitter.com/q0YZboj35E</a></p>— Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1579393478395842561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Wildcats currently sit top of the NBL standings after Round 2 after winning their first three games.

They return home in round three to clash with a wounded Melbourne United on Friday October 14.