Rucker, Lowery praise Rillie redemption

Three weeks is a long time in basketball. It was only three weeks ago that Wildcats ownership was being forced to come out and publicly back head coach John Rillie after Perth’s 2-5 start to the season. Now, they’ve rattled off five straight wins and sit fourth on the NBL24 ladder at the end of Round 8.

Wildcats majority owner Craig Hutchison quoted the virtue of patience in an interview with The West Australian, and said although that patience was being well and truly tested, he wholeheartedly backed things to turn.

Heading into the FIBA break, things have certainly turned for Perth – and NBL analyst Derek Rucker believes the players never lost faith in Rillie during the tough start to the campaign.

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“On Moments That Mattered about a month ago Brisbane was going out to Perth, I said the loser of that game – it was a wrap. Perth lost that game, they haven’t lost a game since and I’ve had to eat my words,” Rucker said on NBL Now's Round Table special.

“I was spending a lot of extra time around the Perth huddle to see what the engagement was like. John Rillie has those guys’ eyes. He coaches them hard, I don’t always agree with his emotions, I don’t always agree with his approach, I don’t always agree with how he absolutely berates the refs every single call, but he’s coaching in the NBL and he’s lifted that team up.

“That comes down to basketball intelligence, desire, and if you can manage men.”

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Rucker, along with fellow NBL Now analyst Damon Lowery, spent time playing with Rillie over their careers.

Rucker linked up with the Wildcats coach at the West Sydney Razorbacks, while Lowery played alongside him for the Townsville Crocodiles.

Once Perth started their current league-best winning streak, Lowery called out the Wildcats’ famed Red Army for wanting to cast Rillie aside, and he has once again called the fanbase out for their conduct during the difficult opening stanza of the NBL24 season.

“The Red Army – I don’t know what your problem is, you’ve got an attitude problem. Somebody says one thing about the Perth Wildcats, and you get all sensitive,” Lowery said.

“All I said was you are too spoilt; you want instant gratification and want to win every damn year.

“We were both teammates with John Rillie, you (Rucker) were in the trenches with him and you guys were winning, when I played with him we were losing, but you get to see the qualities of a guy.

“When we were at the Townsville Crocodiles in my last year in the league we were losing, and John Rillie was there every day shooting and doing all the little things. I saw leadership qualities in him, and he’s got a strut. I said this would get turned around, because John is a fighter, and when it does get turned around, I want to see where all that yap, yap, yapping sounds like now.

“The Red Army’s gone really quiet, I don’t hear anybody calling for John Rillie’s head and I don’t hear anybody saying ‘let’s get Johnny an extension’. How come? He’s turned it around; this guy will do whatever it takes to win.

“If he’s got to hurt some people’s feelings, I’m sorry. They’re on a five-game winning streak, they are balling, and I’m here for it.”

A crucial change made by Rillie to spark the side’s turnaround has been the shortening of the rotation, and that shift in minutes has currently left three-time NBL champion Corey Webster rooted to the bench.

Webster has established himself as a winner practically wherever he’s played around the world. Along with his trio of NBL titles, he’s a four-time NZNBL champion, Basketball Africa League champion and All-NBL Second Team nominee.

Rucker say despite the drastic drop in minutes, Webster is primed to fire whenever Rillie calls on him again this season.

“These guys handle these benchings far better than your boy would have ... far better than I would have handled it. Corey was up there like ‘my time is going to come’,” Rucker said.

“His time is not finished with Perth and they’re going to need him at some point to knock down some shots.

“Something’s going to happen. Someone’s going to get hurt or someone’s going to get in foul trouble and, at some point, like Mitch Norton was required last year to come back late in the season, Corey is going to be needed.

“I think that’s his mindset, and he’s a pro, he’s been doing this for a long time, he understands the ups and downs and right now he’s got a little ankle concern he needs to get over so this has probably come at a good time for him physically.”

Perth will next be in action when the Wildcats take on the second-placed Sydney Kings on Friday, December 1.