Definitely the underperformers of the season so far but you have to admit injuries have been a major reason for that (half our roster has been hurt at some point) and i dont want to use the word 'gelling' but lets just say we're still finding the right mix.

It's been a huge road trip as well - can't wait to see how we go back at the Dome. No more excuses now though, even with those disadvantages they are still a better team than their record indicates.

Melbourne Tigers 4-3. That's the biggest underperformance so far. They were spanked by the Dragons last night.

yea i know but they havent lost to what you would call bad teams the breakers over there are good, dragons here there good and perth who they should have beat

NO
There are other teams under-performing the Sixers:

Melbourne: With the roster they have should be top
Blaze: What the?
Breakers: Should be 5-0 considering the dream start they have had. Expect a fall from grace over the next month as the motel bed bugs bite.

Having said that, 9th is not a spot anyone is comfortable in, the Sixers have had some injuries preventing them being at full strength and 4 on the road is a terrible draw.

Worthwhile to note that the Sixers are the only team UNDEFEATED at home.

Jack Toft, to say that the Breakers are underperforming is ridicolous. You don't know what your talking about. The Breakers lost to Cairns, who are a top team, and the other teams they bet they won convincingly. e.g Adelaide 35 +

Blaze were expected to be a bottom 2-3 side, so no surprises there.

Adelaide has certainly underperformed, but a four game road trip (which realistically should've been 2-2 rather than 0-4) and a few injuries haven't helped.

You can't say the Breakers should be in that mix because they lost one game to a contender (after scoring 111 points and giving up 50 free throws as well). Sure, they should be 5-0 and could have different fortunes on the road, but that's a one game differential.

Tigers should be 6-1 (I'll consider the Breakers and Dragons games both 50-50 and average them out), so that's a two game swing.

I think the Cats at 5-5 have to top the list.

Perhaps:

Wildcats
36ers
Tigers
Blaze

'Soft' Scotty . . on four tv news items and in the paper. and wud look at Burdon and Hoban .

I don't think Melbourne are underperforming at all, I don't think they're that good a team.

melbourne has a gun starting 5 yes but as i saw last night they played big minutes and their team is not deep compared to the dragons who seemed to be able to go all day.

The Blaze are struggling this year for a variety of reasons:

*The productivity of their imports is dismal: Whitehead isn't doing anything, and Hawkins has that bone spur in his heel, which is bothering him

*Wrong coaching decisions: Frankly, Joyce is doing a hopeless job. He gives Pero-a guy who is a proven star-only 14 minutes a game, and gives his son 20 or so.

*Shane Heal and the way he has been playing: Shane is averaging nearly 4 T0'S per game.

All in all, the stats don't lie. Look at this:
-The Blaze are worst in the league at scoring per game at 82 points
-They have the worst FG % at 40.5
-They are 2nd worst in the league in FT %
-They are leading the league in TO's per game at an incredible 19.2!

Enough Said

PERTH

Anon, they have perhaps two first or second tier players in Harvey and Heal. Frank gives it his best, but is usually said to be a bit average defensively. After that, would the rest of the players really be in demand? (Apart from Melmeth being desperately wanted by the NBA...)

Melmeth's gone from team to team which has to tell you something (apart from the fact that he's an often-available big man). McGregor isn't the same player he once was. The imports aren't that good. Joyce is sub-par yet playing 20+ MPG (and it was always obvious it'd happen this season once Heal was recruited). Cameron was not pursued by even his home country's NBL team (presumably Lemanis doesn't rate him or thinks he could be a problem in the roster?).

Vanderjagt came in as a mercy signing and is doing better than all but 2-3 of their other players!

Last year, Hawkins was healthier and Crowe won them a few games by sheer dogged determination and streaky shooting. I thought they definitely overperformed and were quite lucky to make the finals.

This year many picked them as bottom 2-3 and then after a couple of games it was clear that they were going to be the bottom side (short of significant changes).

Wollongong and Sydney might have less talent on paper but both seem to have a better team culture and put in 100%.

I really don't care about other sides, just the Sixers and right now we stink.

i think maybe a bit unfair to mention perth when in a above comment talking about the sixers having 4 away !! the cats have had six !! while disppointing to lose to spirit and gong they were played back to back (and i know other play back to back) and after playing wednesday againest the tigers. so the fixturing has been a little un kind. The cats also have the next 2 away so watch the second half of the year when all the games will mostly be at the jungle.

I'm a cats fan. and i believe the cats have grossly underachived.


they should have against sydney. they had a 8 point lead with 3 minutes to go. yet they got outscored 22-9 from there on.


they had a 6 point lead against the hawks with 2 minutes to go and yet lost that.

They had a 15 point lead in the 4th against the dragons and lost that.

They had a massive meltdown in there first game against the crocs in the 4th.

They almost blew a 18 4th quarter lead against the tigers.

For a team with arguabley the most evenly spread talent and depth in the league, those 4th quarter collapses are unacceptable.