The Wildcats weapon "similar" to Bryce

John Rillie’s shortened rotation has once again jumpstarted instant success for the Perth Wildcats, but one of the NBL’s longest serving offensive talents looks to have found himself out of the reckoning.

Corey Webster remained rooted to the bench in the Wildcats’ Round 7 win over New Zealand and played just five minutes in the overtime victory over Melbourne the week before, and is currently averaging his lowest points per game marker in over a decade.

Last season, Rillie’s shortened rotation saw Mitch Norton and Todd Blanchfield seen as surplus to requirements as the Perth head coach searched for a winning formula, and this season a wing rotation consisting of heavy minutes for the likes of Jordan Usher, Kristian Doolittle and Bryce Cotton looks to have become favoured.

Club captain Jesse Wagstaff found himself on the outer earlier in the season, but has since rebounded to once again become a key piece of a winning Wildcats side. He says he’d rather have Webster as an option to go to than not.

“He’s such a weapon. I put him on a similar offensive output as Bryce, I think he has the ability to change the game with the ball in his hand so it’s JR’s decision. He’s certainly a nice guy to have on the team, Corey,” Wagstaff said.

“He didn’t spend too much time on the practice court today, but he’s an old body who has to take care of his body as well.

“JR’s got a job to do, and that’s why they pay him the big bucks. He’s got to make decisions on who plays and who doesn’t and I’ve been around the league long enough to know it’s not personal.

“He’s trying to put the five guys on the court that are going to win the game, so the best you can do is work at practice, do the best you can do, do the extras and hopefully you get a chance come game time.”

Rillie and the Wildcats found themselves under immense pressure after dropping as low as eighth place due to a 2-5 start to the season, but three consecutive wins have seen them surge back into the post-season reckoning.

A win over Adelaide at RAC Arena broke the drought before a breathless overtime win against Melbourne saw Perth pick up its first away win of the season.

The Wildcats then returned home to handily dispatch the ninth-place Breakers.

Despite the turnaround in form, Wagstaff is under no impression there is still work to be done.

“Life’s certainly better when you win, that’s for sure. We’re under no illusions, we’re 5-5 and we’re a .500 team right now,” he said.

“Momentum is a really fickle thing in sports. I said after the game on radio we had some really good weeks at practice, and we have had some really good weeks at practice – probably four weeks in a row – where things have gone right.

“Probably the first two weeks we didn’t get the results but as is often the case it was keep plugging away and keep chipping away at what you’re doing and hopefully the results go your way.

“Sport’s pretty fickle and we lost however many we lost on the trot but it’s not as if we were far off, we were in every single game and, to be honest, the Melbourne game could have gone slightly different – it was pretty crazy at the end there.

“This league is so tight and although we lost four in a row and we’ve won three in a row the margins are pretty slim. We’re not getting distracted by what guys are doing, it’s just trying to play the right way.”

Perth’s next clash will come against former Wildcats assistant Adam Forde and his Cairns Taipans on Thursday, November 16 at 9:30pm AEDT.