Praise Flowing for Former NBL Stars' Boomers Performances

One major perk of the FIBA break is the ability to watch some of the NBL’s former favourite sons return to our shores and pull on the green and gold.

Thursday’s win over Bahrain was no different, as former Wildcats duo Rhys Vague and Nick Kay made the journey from Japan to help lead the team to a big win over the visiting side.

Kay – who currently plays for Japanese side Shimane Susanoo Magic - captained the side to victory and added 13 points, while Vague – who also plays in Japan with the Kagawa Five Arrows - also added 13 points of his own.

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Both players were last sighted in NBL colours playing for the Wildcats in their championship winning 2020 season, and Liam Santamaria would love to see them both back in the domestic competition at some stage.

“We want him back, we badly want him back,” Santamaria said of Kay on NBL Today. “He mentioned Western Australia is home for him and he’d love to come back to the Wildcats at some stage. No doubt that was nice to hear for the Red Army.

“It’s always good to see him back out there for the green and gold.

“While we’re at it, shoutout Rhys Vague. He’s really getting better, coming out and knocking down shots and he’s a weapon out there now.

“He’s strong enough to hold his own on the interior defensively and he gets boards, but as a pick and pop guy – a guy we’ve seen have success like a Jack McVeigh type in this league – I would love to see someone pry him back from Japan at some stage.”

While it was heart-warming to witness two former NBL students work their magic back in the country last night, most of the evening’s plaudits have gone the way of veteran sharpshooter Todd Blanchfield.

The former Townsville Croc ended the clash with a game-high 20 points on and impressive 7/11 shooting. He also added five rebounds and four assists.

Blanchfield, who joined Perth from Illawarra for NBL23 on a multi-year deal, struggled to embed himself within the Wildcats’ line-up at the business end of the season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Isaac Humphries gets the Boomers started at home with a hammer ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAWC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAWC</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinForAustralia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WinForAustralia</a> ?? <a href="https://t.co/w7pcR1I1AJ">pic.twitter.com/w7pcR1I1AJ</a></p>&mdash; FIBA Basketball World Cup (@FIBAWC) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBAWC/status/1628669192181350400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The former NBL Most-Improved Player recorded his lowest points and rebounds per game average since the 2010-11 season, which was just his second as a professional.

“It’s easy to just look at the leading scorer, but after the season he’s had – we’ve all watched Todd Blanchfield’s career in the NBL for a long time, so we know what he’s capable of doing, and it was kind of tricky and a bit difficult seeing a veteran of the league rot away at the end of the bench there throughout last season,” Santamaria said.

“Especially those moments where at the very end of the season he got thrown out for the last couple of seconds in the game. That was tough.

“To see him step up in the green and gold, admittedly against sub-par competition compared to what he’s used to going up against on a week-to-week basis, he looked good.

“He knocked down shots, he was active, and he flashed a little bit of what he’s still capable of doing.”

The Boomers next take on Kazakhstan on Sunday, February 26 at 3pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel.