Red Army awaits Travers return

Thursday, October 12, 2023

The hype is building towards Luke Travers' return to Perth.

Luke Travers is used to playing at RAC Arena – but not while wearing Melbourne United blue.

That’s the situation the 22-year-old faces on Friday night, as he returns to Perth for the first time since leaving the Wildcats for their arch-rival in the off-season.

The reception Travers receives from the Red Army will be fascinating, as the Perth faithful always creates an intimidating environment for visiting teams.

Travers was in the Wildcats program since 2019 and developed strongly at the club, being selected with the 56th pick in the 2022 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

When asked what reception the fans will give Travers, Perth coach John Rillie was quick to mention the decision to leave was the player’s – and not the club’s.

“I’m sure the Red Army will conduct their manner which is best served for this occasion. What I will say for you is Luke Travers is certainly someone we wanted to keep at the franchise,” Rillie said on SEN.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a> coach John Rillie speaks ahead of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LukeTravers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LukeTravers</a> return to Perth ? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL24?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL24</a> <a href="https://t.co/DT3xKMqKSQ">pic.twitter.com/DT3xKMqKSQ</a></p>— SEN WA Breakfast (@SENWABreakfast) <a href="https://twitter.com/SENWABreakfast/status/1711587440052645944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

United captain Chris Goulding praised the impact Travers has made and noted the significance of Friday night’s clash.

“Luke is good, he’s finding his feet and we’ve seen glimpses of just how amazing he can be,” Goulding said.

“For him, what he’ll want to do is show that consistently ... and what a great opportunity to go and show what a complete player he is then to go play against your old team in a sold-out stadium.

“We can’t wait to get there, we can’t wait to try get a win for him, because we are loving having him on our team.”

Travers is a West Australian native and said part of the reason he left the Wildcats was to challenge himself and grow in a city outside of his hometown.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dribble Podcast: Luke Travers felt he had to leave Perth to shed NBA scout perceptions. <a href="https://t.co/RELw3WJVDu">https://t.co/RELw3WJVDu</a> <a href="https://t.co/PCHhkfI5Gp">pic.twitter.com/PCHhkfI5Gp</a></p>— The West Sport (@TheWestSport) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheWestSport/status/1711882809097236531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“For sure. Moving out of home, or out of my parent’s house, last year was a real change,” Travers told The West Australian.

“I fully didn’t take in all of it, I guess. I’ve was still living with friends stuff. I was coming home to them, and even they were cooking for me. There was definitely thoughts of, maybe I’m not going to be able to do this, but I’ve taken it on and I’m doing pretty well with it all as well.

“Just being able to cook and clean for myself off the court, but then also just meeting new people is something that I haven’t really done too much of last couple of years.”

Tip-off between the Wildcats and United is 9:30pm AEDT on Friday night, live on ESPN via Kayo.