me, Hodge always sits out on the bench during warm ups. This has come about since the home loss to the Dragons where he cramped up in the last 2 minutes of the game and could not finish off. His participation on court in those last 2 minutes could have won us the game. I think its a precaution thing that you don't make him overdo it before the game with the hope that his legs will run the distance.

I believe Julius likes to conserve his energy for the game.

EC this is his choice no-one elses.

I have expressed my admirastion fr Julius in the past..so this is purely an observation...but surely if you have NBA aspirations...you can run out a game and warm up?

to me...it looked like he felt he didnt need to warm up like everyone else?

me - I think your summary nailed it pretty well.

The best game I have seen in many years, probably since the championships.

For Adelaide, all the guys were great with the exception of Brad Hill who was underwhelming and after Isiah Victor sent him back to the 5th row (literally) he became tentative and as a result a non-factor.

The umpires did lose control for a few minutes during the third period and the Tech Foul on Brett was utterly ridiculous.

Loughton's 3 in the last 40 seconds of regulation could be one of the biggest shots of the season for Perth. He misses that, Adelaide clear the rebound and it was all over.

After 58 minutes and a heartbreaking loss, there are a lot of really good signs for Adelaide. The game was playoff quality and despite not getting the W this time, it will harden the 6ers and give them loads of confidence for the rest of the season.

Hopefully Julius not getting too caught up in his own
importance as I dont ever remember any other player regularly missing so much warm up . To me it is not hard work and a team thing. Hope doest last all season

Thanks for the eyewitness accounts to both of you guys. Shame it wasn't televised!

anon you are a little bit of a stroker i reckon

what more do you want him to do as far as team attitude is concerned?

lead the league in assists? done

High fiving and chest bumping his team mates in great plays, getting the crowd involved which in turn gets his teammate going, cheering and standing and applauding from the bench when good things happen unlike the team mates that seem to be super glued to their chair? done

Get more spectators to a game which in turn makes the club more financial which in turn helps pay peoples salary? done

help get the team winning? done

Making Ballinger, Schensch and Bruce better players...oh wait now i get it you probably think that Jacob should be getting 20 points a game and shoudl be teh focus of the offence too, right?

Some people just astound me, we have a player here that is the envy of every club in the league yet people still find ways to nit pick.

Was a real shame it wasnt televised, it was the kind of game that would certainly draw crowds and revinvigorate the NBL.

My comments about Julius were not meant to suggest that he puts himself above the team, just that i found it odd. I think its also a case of he needs the 36ers crowd..as much as we need him.

Agree with the comments above about Brad, didnt seem to stamp himself on the game.

Bretts free throw miss at the end of regular time ripped my heart out, when they called the foul..i turned to the other people with and said.. "yes..its Brett, we are safe".. there is still noone else i would have take that shot..but it wasnt to be.

In the end..a fantastic game and if it had been played anywhere but Perth im sure we would have won it. Hometown calls..tech fouls and pressure sent it to OT.

The signs for the team were excellent, the setups looked good, they used Luke well although perhaps couldve used him a little more. Defensivly i think we are still a little lax..but then this is the 36ers we are talking about..i will take the offensive activity as a trade off.

Also..to the other 36ers fans in the crowd GREAT EFFORT...from what i could tell there was about 15 of us spread throughout the stadium...and im sure i heard them all at one time or another.

a few empty seats this time...very rare in Perth, so a final crowd of 4200 i think.

Kent Brockman:

"Making Ballinger, Schensch and Bruce better players...oh wait now i get it you probably think that Jacob should be getting 20 points a game and shoudl be teh focus of the offence too, right?"

Yeh, I don't get the hate on Jake either. I for one, was extremely happy to have Jake come back home. I must say, I had to hold back when some tankers were labelling him a sook when he wasn't in the sarting line up. I assumed it wasn't the case, as there's no shame in sitting with Captain Mahervellous.

Kent Brockman::

"Some people just astound me, we have a player here that is the envy of every club in the league yet people still find ways to nit pick."

Incredible isn't it? Maybe his sitting out the warm-ups is part of psyching himself up mentally for the away games. He'd be aware that there might get a negative reaction from the onlookers, so I'd gather there must be an underlying reason behind it, rather than laziness. It'd look even worse if he stayed in the change-rooms while the guys were out there warming up.

Anyway, ease up guys, there's more going through all the players' minds than what some here might be guessing at.

BTW, is Jules' family in Adelaide?

So anon
how is he putting himself above the team?
If you are refering to the video then you must say the same about Luke and Bruce because they were in there too, and i have it on good authority they were in there after the last game too just no video this time to show it.

If Julius feels as though he wants to conserve energy and sit out some of warm up which in turn helps deliver a near triple double every night what the hell is the problem?

anon you geezer!

You are yet to demonstrate how he puts himself "above" the rest of the team.

Games aren't played or won in warm up

Maybe the same coach that it is making those comments should be thankful that someone put money into bringing Julius here to save his job.

The way the team was headed would not be favourable to getting the gig again next year. Especially with the prefered option this year looking for a job.

You could easily argue that Julius has lifted the entire team up to his level ( not that i am suggesting that , but you could argue it)

Hey Isaac I wasnt dumping on him and only talking about warm ups and at least the last 2 games in Adel. he has done the same sit through a lot of warm up and ME who saw the perth game noted it in his report and hadnt been reported by any other poster before about our home games.
Whilst we are winning not a problem but in a team game not a great look you have to admit. Havent heard anyone qoute anybody else doing it regularly, not even a 50% fit Brett at anytime over last few years.
By the way very suptle sarcasm Isaac pity it was a large sledge hammer .

Agreed Kent, tall poppy syndrome is alive and well! Julius has given us so much already this season. The timeout he called against the Crocs to get the youngsters in was testiment to his team orientated attitude! Dont like it get lose i say, Dragons could do with more fans!

Jacob's performance suffered since Hodge arrived. If Hodge is a direct influence on this, then what we get out of Hodge has to be discounted by what we lose out of Jacob. Ninnis himself said that since Hodge arrived there has not been the need for Jacob to score but to put some defensive pressure and collect rebounds. If Jacob can score as well, why would you not place importance on it?

"If Hodge is a direct influence on this, then what we get out of Hodge has to be discounted by what we lose out of Jacob."

...well and truly evened out by what we gain in Balls and Brucie.