Rillie wants more Cotton calls

Perth coach John Rillie says Bryce Cotton deserves more protection.

A short-priced favourite to secure his fourth MVP and a near-certainty to take out his fifth scoring title, Cotton racked up 21 points and eight assists in the Wildcats’ 103-91 victory over South East Melbourne at Melbourne’s State Basketball Centre on Saturday night, but only drew four fouls.

Cotton buried 8-of-8 free throws, but Rillie believes there should have been more shooting fouls throughout his 37-plus minutes on the court.

“I’ve got a question for someone in here - what does FD on the stat-sheet mean?” Rillie asked reporters post match before receiving the answer - fouls drawn.

“I grew up in the Andrew Gaze era - as a player we used to complain about how he got calls ... but every team, top to bottom, had a hell of a scouting report for Andrew Gaze.

“So there was a level of frustration, but he got rewarded because he was featured heavily.

“Bryce Cotton - four drawn fouls tonight,” he continued.

“I listen to every press conference, I read a lot of articles,” Rillie continued.

“Tell me someone who doesn’t have him (Cotton) at the top of the scouting report.

“And when he’s aggressive ... four drawn fouls. Unbelievable.”

The Phoenix were whistled for more fouls than Perth (22-16), while the Wildcats visited the charity stripe almost twice as many times (30-16).

Cotton has led the NBL in free-throw attempts the past three seasons.