Rillie: Travers' Confidence Unmatched

By Dan Woods - NBL Media
Photo - Wildcats Media

With two pre-season wins on the board to kick off his tenure, new Perth Wildcats head coach John Rillie says his team has shown “glimpses” of their capabilities for the upcoming season.

Despite missing key squad members Jesse Wagstaff and Majok Majok for the two games, the Wildcats overcame Adelaide in both of their clashes in regional Western Australia. They first won by 11 points in Bunbury before following up with a six-point win in Joondalup.

“The best thing we got out of it was guys got to play some games,” Rillie told SEN. “The other thing was we got it on film. We showed glimpses of being really good [but] we showed glimpses of being average.

“We’re always going out to win games. If a guy is injured we’re going to try lineups but that’s not going to change our approach … you saw that over the weekend.

“We didn’t see Jesse Wagstaff play, Majok Majok didn’t play – some younger guys got an opportunity. That’s going to be the way the season goes … so let’s get out there and make the most of it.”

The hallmark of both wins was the team nature of each performance, particularly in game two where six players finished the game with double-digit points.

One player who stood out for the Cats was young star Luke Travers. In game one he finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, before following up with 12 points and four steals in the second contest.

“His (Travers) confidence is at a level I’ve never seen,” Rille said of the 21-year-old.

“What I’ve been on Luke about is his consistency. He performed well in game one, so could he bring back the same level of performance in game two and show that.

“If you ask me the secret to building consistency is you have to do it every time you get an opportunity.

“He’s really got on the front foot with that.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LT doing plenty. ?‍? <a href="https://t.co/7kLmwtnylV">pic.twitter.com/7kLmwtnylV</a></p>&mdash; Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1568229189320601601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Perth’s final three games of pre-season all come at the upcoming NBL Blitz, with the competition to be hosted in Darwin for the first time.

The Wildcats will take on Cairns on Saturday night before lining up against South East Melbourne on Monday. They finish the week long festival of basketball with a clash against Melbourne on Wednesday.

Rillie says he’s still searching for the best way to make an impact on the side.

“Like the players I need to get a good feel for how I’m going to put my stamp on it all,” he added. 

“Probably most importantly [it’s about] my assistant coaches understanding what I’m looking for so they can help me in game.

“For us, we’re trying to find out continuity through it all.”