Perth's surprise game-changer

The Perth Wildcats have twice had to dig deep for comeback wins in NBL26, and on both occasions it was development player Jaron Rillie sparking the turnaround.

With him on the court, Perth is now a remarkable +46 this season.

Before last weekend, Rillie had never logged a single NBL minute. That changed with 6:53 left in New Zealand on Saturday as the Breakers surged with all the momentum and a double figure lead after a 15-0 start to the fourth. Coach John Rillie threw his 24-year-old son into the game, and Perth responded by outscoring the Breakers by 21 the rest of the way.

On Thursday at home to the Illawarra Hawks, he entered late in the first quarter with Perth trailing by 11. By the time he subbed out with 6:45 left in the half, the margin had been cut to four. He returned for the final three minutes before halftime, during which the Wildcats outscored the Hawks by 12 to seize the lead.

In that stretch he produced two points, five rebounds and two assists, finishing with an eye catching +25. Remarkably, across the first 20 minutes of his career he already holds a +46.

His coach and father is not surprised by the young guard’s early form.

"Well the plus minus for sure (is surprising) but what he's contributing to the team, that doesn’t surprise me given I've been watching him with a keen eye for many years and I understand what he can bring to the team," coach Rillie said.

"When you can coach good basketball players and you give them the license to play off instinct, and you have other guys synced the right way, to me that's what basketballers should be able to do. You need to be able to use your own flair and capabilities within the structure of the team and we have moments like that which I hope we can grow on. It's fun coaching good basketball players."

Teammate Dylan Windler also played a key role in Perth's back-to-back wins, posting 13 points and nine rebounds in the first half against the Hawks before finishing with 16 and 14.

Like his coach, he was not surprised by Jaron's impact, pointing to the guard's pre-season efforts and four years of experience at Northern Colorado.

"He's been doing that all pre-season honestly and he's just been a steady, consistent player for us," Windler said.

"He's someone you can rely on to knock down shots, gets us into our offence and is hard nosed on defence too, he's not an easy guy to score on.

"Going +25 in 13 minutes is pretty crazy, but he's just really good at getting us out in transition and we get easy buckets when he's on the floor.

"He's unselfish and he just knows how to play the right way after four years at high level college basketball at the point guard position. He has a lot of experience already and he's ready to play when he comes in."