Wildcats Searching for Answers After “Embarrassing” Loss

“Mauling”, “thrashing”, “pummelling”, “embarrassing” – just some of the terms used to describe the Wildcats’ 31-point loss against the Tasmania JackJumpers last week.

It was an un-Perth like performance that saw John Rillie’s team narrowly avoid a new record losing margin in a 40-minute game.

On paper, the Wildcats boast one of the most talented rosters in the NBL. But right now, they are searching for answers after a two-game losing streak.

It doesn’t get any easier either, with four games across a nine-day stretch to come, including two treks across the country.

But for coach John Rillie, it’s about sticking to the process.

“We had a great week of practice. We all live and hope that we come out and perform the way we practised this week,” Rillie told The West Australian.

“What I do know is if we continue to practice the way we have since I’ve taken over this job, we will be a good team at some stage.

“For me, it’s our continued work every day. That gets rewarded. It gets rewarded in sport. It gets rewarded in life.”

Earlier in the week, import TaShawn Thomas admitted Perth needed to ‘get its identity back’.

“I feel like the last two games where we’ve lost, we’ve been playing not like us,” he said.

“We’ve lacked doing that in the last two games. We’ve been focusing on trying to get that going.

“I’d rather have it now than later. I definitely feel like this is the wake-up call we needed.

“If it happened later in the season, there’d be less time to change things. I definitely feel that’s what it is – a wake-up call for us and everybody needs to respond right away.”

At three wins and two losses, it’s hardly time to panic. But coming off the club’s first missed finals campaign in 35 years and a rich history of success, there’s always high expectations in Perth.

Three-time championship player Matt Knight said the club was at risk of losing its much-envied culture.

“You work so hard to build something that’s successful and it was, you just have to look at our record which speaks for itself,” Knight said on Hoops Heaven’s Basketball Hustle podcast.

“It is disappointing to see it not carry on the way we built it up, but that’s what can happen with new ownership coming in who have different priorities.

“Ever since the ownership change something in the culture has changed with it, and on the court they are relying on Bryce (Cotton) too much now as great as a player he is.

“If you look inside out, that culture has changed and I don’t know what’s happened, but the pressure is on because when you put that Perth Wildcats jersey on teams bring it against you every night.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I’m retracting my Pre-season prediction on <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nbl23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Nbl23</a> <a href="https://t.co/9mdJVn4x3Y">pic.twitter.com/9mdJVn4x3Y</a></p>&mdash; Corey “Homicide” Williams (@chomicide) <a href="https://twitter.com/chomicide/status/1585374101832859648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

NBL commentator Corey Williams was equally critical of the Wildcats’ struggles.

“I thought they were going to win the chip,” Williams said on NBL Overtime.

“I said that because after being on a roster last year of a team that didn’t make finals, you were coming with that chip on your shoulder to show, not only are we here to make amends, we’re coming to win.

“I did not see that at all in that game. Not one minute. It was bad … it was really, really bad.”

Perth returns home to take on the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday night, with tip-off from 9.30pm AEDT.