Being the coach of a team that has made the finals 28 years in a row would know its a non negotiable & 29 must come after 28.

If the Wildcats return home to play the Kings 0-3 which is a good chance when does the panic button get pressed, even if they return 1-2 the pressure builds.

I think the Wildcats board would be ruthless if they could see the finals slipping away.

Remember there is no X amount of games you have to qualify for to Coach finals.

Is there any chance Gleeson could get shown the door if they fall out of the 4?

As strange as this would have seemed just a couple of weeks ago.....I can see Perth going 0-2 over the Sunshine Swing.

Unlikely.

News of the Crocs dire financial situation is now public, and with the locker room lacking any real leadership on that roster, that should be the fork in them.

Hard to see them galvanising now.

Massive game for the Wildcats.
Lose this and there's a good chance we're 12-11 this time next week and in real danger of crashing out of the top 4.

I think, like Mark Twain, rumours of Perth's death are highly exaggerated. I have too much respect for the win-at-all-costs culture of that club to write them off or prematurely rejoice at their current woes.

After the poast 2 weeks, any complacency in the playing and coaching group will be well and truly erased. I expect them to come out hard and desperate, with more to lose than do Townsville. Given that, I expect them to win this one.

This is Perth's game to lose and the pressure they are feeling must be intense. I can just see 15,000 homeless Perthites getting around in "29" t-shirts.

Townsville are out of finals and so their objective now until the end of the season is just to create mischief and mayhem. It is also the time for Gladness to step up to the plate and have a big one. He has delivered poorly against Perth. Jervis doesn't have the body strength over Gladness that Knight had so that matchup will be a lot more even tonight. Conk is the man who I think will be hard to control. I expect him to be molested on and off the ball so if the refs have their contacts in, then I think he will be off to the charity stripe for a few tonight.

It is also time for Holmes to play a Captain's knock tonight. Forget about the 3's Jake, 11% won't win games. Let's see some vintage Holmes crashing boards and getting stops. Remember, you have 5 fouls and if you are going to foul, use them wisely. You don't get a refund at the end of the game.

Perth are in all sorts of trouble and their offensive structure has broken down. Beal has dropped 3.3 ppg since Knight's departure and they are losing by 9 ppg. With the Cairns game tomorrow night, they will want at least one win.

This is an opportunity for the Crocs to step up and claim a big scalp.

Currently in a fight for third place, the Wildcats need to win at every opportunity they get to ensure they hold on to that position.

Perth may struggle to keep the two big imports of Townsville quiet with only one true centre fit to play.

Perth have more to play for and I think that may get them the win. Lose and get ready to hear the calls for Gleeson's head!

Perth by 5.

Preview: Perth look to get back on winners list against Townsville

You're quite right, anon 126.
Some fans might be satisfied with 4 grand final appearances in the last 5 seasons, including 2 titles, but you've clearly got higher standards than that, so good for you.
Always aim high ;)

Hehe some people talk so much shit on hear it gets a bit sad! Just look at there overall stats then give us a post. Nz beating Perth twice? U call those season's competitive? Tell us which season's has been the most competitive? Oh wait the years the wildcats won?

Ure a turd

They are usually just anon's which have very little to zero credibility. Usually hiding behind a generic username because even they themselves don't want to be associated to the content of their posts.

You know the saying, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics compiled by moronic anons like #1126 up there.

I'm guessing that #126 is the same douche who got the Wildcats fixture information entirely wrong in the other thread.

Came home to Townsville to visit family for the long weekend and was on the same flight as the Wildcats last night. Damn that team is a tall team! Can anyone confirm if they are the tallest team in the league?

Heading to the game tonight.

Having been season ticket members from back in the Crocs hay day it will be interesting to see what the RSL stadium is like. By all talks and recent posts, I'm thinking I'm in for a rude awakening!

Your an idiot....just sayin

It's not just cherry picking stats, it's BAD, obvious cherry-picking. Please leave the keyboard and reevaluate your life, anon. Clearly it could do with some sprucing up.

Would be a shame if #174 got hit by the Minda Bus before he got on it today. Just saying.

@Bball fan: Townsville are the tallest team in the league.

#251, you're a knob.

The Internet is by definition "anonymous."
I could call myself "Darryl White of Kingsley," and you'd still have no clue who I am.
Furthermore, tomorrow I could be "Bob from Melbourne" and you wouldn't know.
So you have to wonder just how feeble somebody has to be, to keep hurling their little rants and insults from behind the "Anonymous" curtain.

Do I think most other fans are jealous of Perth's success? No I don't. I imagine that like any fan they'd prefer to see their team in the finals and win the pennant, but I think for MOST it doesn't descend into bitter jealousy.
However, when you read repeated posts of "we all luv to see perf looz cos thay suk so much" then I do have to wonder at the emotional maturity of that individual.

As for Perth's "success," I think they have been CONSISTENTLY above average, but that's about it. 6 Flags IS more than any other team, but the Cats have also been in the league longer than most current teams, and without major bleak periods.

Speaking of bath, isn't it time for yours?

"Enjoying the game are you Dazz? "

Loving it!

#267, you're a knob.

Was it Hire's same leg?

Perth might as well not bother tomorrow night.

with the jervis/blanchfield out of bounds only thing i can think of is i think Blanchfields foot may have been touching the line as Jervis thew the ball off him so he is out of bounds then hit jervis's leg thus cats ball (thats all i can think of)

Man that was close , let's hope that re-ignites Perth from here. Some great battles in that game, I enjoyed it.

"All the arrogant Perth fans will want to hush for a bit, your team has lost the intimidation factor and it shows. But in true Perth fashion, continue the rants and arrogance naive approach."

The "arrogance naive approach"? Oh dear.

Oh, and BTW, Perth setup that win when they held the Crocs to 10 points in the 3rd quarter, and brought it home by holding them to just 3 in O/T. I'd say that "the intimidation factor" is alive and kicking.

Holy cow. Got outta jail in that one. Way too close for comfort!

"Arrogance naive approach" sounds like a dodgy Japanese subtitle.

Unfortunately the trend continues for the crocs, they are playing some pretty good ball, but just can not at any stage execute on offense with the game to be won. So frustrating, they look like they have no idea where a shot is coming from down the stretch, and get flustered into a turnover or bad shot. 3 points in overtime come on!

Conklin was killing it and then the Crocs just stopped going to the well for some reason.
Some nice work by Wagstaff and Beal for us.

Oy vey, too close.

Does it look like Hire is gone for the season or just this trip?

Perth got it done (tonight anyway).

Hopefully this trip, since he's walking on it... but we'll see.

@Uwe Blab,

Or a prog rock band.

Wow as a cats fan love seeing all the negative comments. That win showed hear, behind most of the game, crocs at home, cats playing after playing 48 hours ago from Perth, losing another player, you do realise Knight out, hire out, Ross out, 3 of our players out. Cats need a big man replacement quick smart.

until Greg Hire changes his hair style,bad things will happen to him :o

Perth has seen off a stern challenge from Townsville to prevail in a 93-85 overtime NBL victory at Townsville RSL Stadium.

The out of form Wildcats were simply better when it mattered as they restricted the Crocs to just three points in the extra period as they ran away with it in the final stages.

'Cats stifle Crocs in OT for crucial win

If Jervis has already put a foot outside the court, he is considered "out of bounds." If Blanchfield is the last to touch the ball when it still live, then it touches Jervis who has had a foot outside the line, it has to be off Blanchfield.

I didn't think Jervis stepped out of bounds at all. My take on it was Jervis knocked the ball onto Blanchfield who had part of his foot on or slightly over the line.

I'm pretty sure Jervis had a foot out of court. The issue I think most people are having is the replay showed the ball touching Blanchfield, then it appeared to touch Jervis again (only one angle was used on replay though), so they conclude its off Jervis. The rules actually state that Jervis is already out of bounds, so it can only be considered off Blanchfield (if I'm describing the incident correctly).

Big Ads, the refs got it done.

The refs had no impact on the result whatsoever.

My mistake, didn't read all the rules correctly.

The good thing for Perth is that they held the Crocs to 30 in the second half and 3'points in OT. Could this be the return of the trademark Perth defence. Tonight's game is going to be very interesting.

I'm more of a diaphragm breather.

HOME TEAM
M. Norton: -9
T. Blanchfield: -4
B. Conklin: -8
M. Gladness: -3
C. Steindl: -9
S. Markovic: 3
L. Henry: 3
G. Vanderjagt: -3
M. Djeric: -6
J. Holmes: -4

ROAD TEAM
J. Beal: 1
D. Daniels: 9
T. Jervis: 7
S. Redhage: -3
D. Martin: 21
G. Hire: 6
L. Martin: -14
D. UU: 1
J. Wagstaff: 12