"Remember, this game will be live today on Fox Sports News (Foxtel Channel 500)"

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7pm tip-off (= 4:30pm in Perth)

Adelaide should win if Martin's out.

If Martin plays then this game is a 50/50 proposition for mine.

‏@PerthWildcats
Wildcats captain Damian Martin will not be playing in tonight's game, as he continues to recover from a calf injury. #RedArmy

Kenny more than handy, to replace damo. See how cp goes in the guard position, exciting to see, 1st game, not expecting to much. Glad, the season is back. Hello Jack toft!! Went to winter school for my grammar :)

If Perth is at full strength they will win. They will have way to many weapons for the 6ers especialy with that humongous frontline.

Scratch that I just saw the post above me regarding Martin. Tip 6ers by 4. Losing Martin is a huge blow to a team ALLREADY THIN in the backcourt.

I think Adelaide can win this. Hodgson will have his work cut out for him with Perth's monster frontcourt. DJ should have a good game if he has the green light to shoot from range. Hopefully Creek has a breakout game continuing on through the season. McNeail and Ere should be able to put points on the board without Damo.

Sixers by 9

No Martin, 36er home game enough days off to be fresh enough, they should win this one if they deem themselves legit. Its going to be so tight at the finish line, these are the games you potentially look back on and say damn that wouldve made all the difference. Looking forward to seeing Jawai, and hopefully looking forward to the 36ers runing all night and Jawai needing to take a breather! 36ers by 8+.

Spot on Kobe, every game could be the difference this year with seemingly seven legit playoff contenders.

happy to be the first to tip the cats, by 8. Kenny can play, beal will play a big role, prather to top score, Jawai cause some inside trouble, and redhage to knock in 2-3 3s to help with the outside attack.

Based on Kenny's performance in Game 1 at RLA, he's a solid enough player.

The problem is that when he subs off Beal will go to the 1, and Prather to the 2. This means Redhage and Wagstaff will be playing 3, and Hire might be required to play some 2.

A starting 5 of Kenny-Beal-Prather-Knight-Jawai means they might do alright for the first 5 or 7 minutes, but when the 36ers start running at every opportunity and Cats need to make a sub- on the rotations, that's when I see Adelaide getting on top. It's not because Kenny isn't talented enough (although that could play a part), the query becomes that Perth will have half their team playing a role that doesn't allow their strengths to shine. For example Hire is a hustle 3 man who crashes the O boards and plays solid D. He is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a 2 man. But if Beal or Kenny get in foul trouble that's exactly what he'll have to be.

Well LV, PERTH GAMBLED big on going huge upfront(mind the punt) at the expense of backcourt depth.This was allays going to be a major issue with an injury to Martin or Beal.

I think if Adelaide plays to their potential they get the W

I have to say though, I am disappointed that so many good players are out injured this week.

Childress, Lisch, Rhys Martin, Damian Martin, Trigger, Abercrombie, Pledger, McNeial

That group would be a championship winning team!

Tough game for Perth first up. Hopefully Jawai can get more mobile. He seems far away in conditioning and movement from his Cairns days. Jawai plays 5, Knight 4, meaning Redhage will have to log minutes at the 3. Redhage isn't as quick as he use to be and there are many quick 3s in the league.

Jawai needs to improve alot, because if he does he'll command double teaming which will keep Redhage open and free for movement.

The bench players for the Wildcats are a bit unknown but they did show some promise in the pre-season and should get better as the team progresses.

Adelaide should start warm favourites as they are at home, played a game, and did a nice job against NZ.

Adelaide $1.30 Perth $2.80 for me with the Line at Adelaide -7.5pts

Hope Perth wins obviously but think Adelaide may have the better team today. Not a home game for the Wildcats so not a drama producing game if they did lose.

Interesting to read that Wildcats made a lost last season after the season prior they made a $1 million dollar profit. That's a massive turn-around. It seems that the rent for Perth Arena and game night costs went through the roof.

Did any team made a profit last season?

So what's the decision on the "Sea of Colour" tonight? Do we wear sixers' blue or the black shirts we got on Wednesday? ... or will it be a "Sea of Colours"?!

Also - does anyone know if the scoreboard will be working? I recall someone saying it was now totally dead forever - if that's the case, why doesn't the club have the sense/courtesy to let members know? If we are kept informed, we will accept that it's a serious problem that they are trying to fix rather than a weekly stuff-up where no-one could be bothered to test it before the game.

Just don't wear red!

Wildcats loss comes from this article:
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/29772670/salesman-marvin-outlines-his-vision-salesman-marvin-outlines-his-vision/

I wonder if there is some creative accounting in that. It's a worry if there isn't because crowds were outstanding last season, and above the level they could realistically hope to maintain long term IMO.

An article in the AFR states the Wildcats made a $1.5 million profit.

http://www.afr.com/business/sport/larry-kestelman-didnt-buy-a-club-he-bought-the-whole-nbl-20151006-gk2l8k

I wonder if that was talking about the previous year, or inadvertently blowing some cover?

Well, Poindexters what a game this will be tonight. Perth's first game and Adelaide's second game of the round.

Hodgson was the man on Wednesday night and will need to show everyone that wasn't just beginner's luck. Just one of the new faces in the Sixers lineup. Perth's team is fairly stable from last year except the wheelchairs of some of the older guys just need a bit more WD40. The big name is obviously Nathan Jawai who the Advertiser called the Beast of Bamaga. Usually that term is reserved for someone who has gone troppo with a chainsaw. At 143 kgs I think he is the biggest guy in the league, and certainly comes close to a few former girlfriends.

With Martin out, someone needs to step up. The Angry Ant is the key cog in the Wildcats game plan and their defensive, grabby style can't just rely on flops to get the win. The Cats rely on a slow paced game with each possession grinding out the full 24 secs. The Sixers are more free flowing.

The battle tonight will be won in the front court with offensive rebounds more valuable than Jack Bendat's watch collection.

Like someone said above, "the first real game for the Sixers" Both teams will be tested as both teams try to play they own style. I think the scoring might be lower tonight than Wednesday, but the ferocity will be more intense than a UFC match.

I might be a bit dusty today after a good mate's 50th last night, but I wouldn't be a Sixers Fan if I didn't tip them to get a win over the Pussycats.

Cats giving up some really easy baskets. Entertaining game so far.

Derek Rucker

LOL ... Redhage still as popular as ever in Adelaide I see

Perth had way too many offensive rebounds, just hard to watch... ugly memories of that GF series! But good pace Adelaide had a few chances to capitalise on the team defence but couldnt knock it down. Just got to run and run and run some more against Perth by the looks of it. People been saying Prather is a shocker, he looked okish in that half.

His jumpshot is ugly as hell but I don't think people have been saying Prather overall is a shocker.

Refs have gotten themselves caught in an endless cycle of weak makeup calls after that ridiculous one against Kenny. #softball

Cats still hanging in there

Redhage looks done IMO.

92% #Hardball, 8% #Softball

Crowd booing Jawai on the free throw line

:(

#Racists

Oh the three ball.

Thats just a dumb attempt at humour ^

6ers gave really fallen off this second half. The imports have done nothing, lots of quick takes the the rim for no reward. Everything looks rushed. Shame to potentially drop this one with 2:44 left.

Prather isn't a shocker, but his skill set doesn't look to be a good fit in Perth.

This has been a fairly boring game... Wildcats by 6 but it feels like it's closer to having a mallee than a breakaway dunk.

Go wildcats

Rubbish call on Petrie on the break turns a certain Sixers 2 into a Perth 3, turned that game in the fourth, refs made this a very ugly game to watch, hope this is the exception rather than the rule

This might sound racist but was anyone else purplexed as to why Gleason had a blue texta... Get that man a red one

Perth only going to get better.

Look out folks when the round mound of rebound gets fit.

6ers disgrace of a final 5minutes. This team is heading where i suspected... the imports are not unto what we needed. Guess it really just shows how poor NZ were undermanned.

Dont get carried away, the cats didn't beat any team worthy of much.

I still don't think Perth will make the final four... I just don't think Adelaide are very good, either.

That was pretty sweet :-)

12 to 18 OR's.....

A real reality check for 6ers tonight. Too often let the perimeter players get the long rebound just sloppy. We do not get enough points production out of our top tier players. Spent too much time complaining just go and play hard work the ball obviously our perimeter shooting has not improved just 17%.

Love it when people wright us off, redhage clutch and beal. Nate will get better as well cp and we get our captain back, all good out west to start the season. Not pussycats this year!

couple of big 3s late by the cats. For a team that cant shoot 3s, they found a few likely types.

Well totally out coached and no plan to get open shooters like they did.
Again a pair of dud imports and really does not surprise most of us as McNeil no real form to say any good and we all knew Ebi Ere time had well passed, but at least thought turn up in some sort of playing condition.

Our imports are going to be a serious issue this season. Neither produced anything when it was time to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Cats were good but think they will struggle to beat the likes of United who have insane scoring power and true balance. Cats probs one more legit outside shooter away from causing playoff drama. Great to see Jawai dominate like he did, after all he has been through its a nice story from an Aussie supporter point of view.

Not sure why people are surprised at Perth's dominance on the Boards, that's pretty much the one thing that's guaranteed by this lineup.

I have to wonder though, if Adelaide weren't backing up from the NZ game, could they have outrun the Cats.
Perth has for a while played a slow bump'n'grind style of play, but this is getting ridiculous. We need to go back to a 30 second shot-clock, just so Knight and Jawai have time to make it down the court.

I really worry that there are going to be teams that will simply take us apart on the floor.

But yes, Redhage has started the season well for an old guy, and Beal is still the man.

Haha thats sad but can't help but agree. Ebe is in laughable condition, but no one seems to want to make true reference to it. Mcneail well he was cheap and you get what you pay for. Ive been pretty concerned about the import recruiting the entire off season but tried to sit back and be positive. Why would they not have combined both Ebe and Mcneils contracts for one really good import, and continue to utilise all the awesome aussie talent we have. Joey had to have his boy Ebe back, fat or not i guess.

Yeah well if you consider how tight its going to be great teams will miss the playoffs this season. When the game got tight the 36ers had no go to guy. Imports like it or not are usually the first too be looked at when things go sour, and tonight it was laughable. Ebe is fat, Mcneil seems out of his depth. If he is injured dont ply him... so no excuse there.

McNeail is obviously injured. You think he'd be playing less than 10 minutes a game if he was healthy?
"If he is injured dont ply him... so no excuse there"
He's played 14:07 over the 2 games. 7 minutes per game. We effectively aren't playing him. So that's a genuine excuse for his play.

Something about our third terms where we drop off the pace or something. Same old, same old.

Up n about early and then faded away. Perhaps the double games are too much NBA styled and not NBL styled. Will see when other teams get their chance.

Cats too good but enjoying the fruits of winning when betting for them.

Perth took it to Hodgson every chance, to try get him off his game. Which forced him into foul trouble and off the court. Smart play by Perth, but it wasn't unexpected that he would have a rough night. Against the front line Perth have, when they put emphasis into him, he was always going to struggle.

coaches/players may take a while to get the play/training/travel balance right.....very exciting times though !!

Kobe24....Jawai is more overweight than Ere.

He is working with the Cats conditioning team as Ere would the Sixers staff.

Give him a chance to get into game shape, this guy is a flat out winner and still has a big role to play in the Sixers 15/16 aspirations.

Likewise McNeail....lets give him a chance to prove himself.

There are other questions however that should be asked.

Why is Sobey taking more shots than Gibbo, Peach and Teys?

Why isn't Gibbo more active in scoring? We know he can do it.

"Ebe is in laughable condition, but no one seems to want to make true reference to it."

I have defended him all along. I don't doubt his ability but he is definitely out of shape and the team should let him go quickly. How a professional athelete can come into the league like that I don't know.

"Mcneail well he was cheap and you get what you pay for."

McNeail is still playing injured. In the pre-season he has already shown he is a quality player.

"Why would they not have combined both Ebe and Mcneils contracts for one really good import"

For the reason that an expensive import can be shit also. Prather 9 points at 28%. Thornton 9 points at 27%. Starks 6 points at 30%. Also they got the imports to balance the team.

Johnson, Creek and Carlin are the only players that can hold their heads up today.

This was the game for Gibson to step up with no Martin hounding him. Instead Kenny outscored him and was happy hiding in his shell most of the game.

Petrie looked scared on all of his layups and as a result missed most of them. In 3 minutes of court time Carlin looked more confident than him.

Ere was pathetic. I thought even that he is out of shape he might be able to muscle baskets but he can't even do that.

Sobey will be good but he doesn't have the confidence yet. In the pre-season he looked fearless and would try to dunk at every opportunity. Now that the season has started he looks like a scared puppy every time he tries to lay it up instead of trying to dunk it.

Teys was efficient for most of the game probably deserves more time. He was sloppy at the end when the game was over.

McNeail should not play if he is injured. When he was in the game he should have looked to control the tempo when we didn't have a fast break and not rush a couple of shots.

Walker still trying to find him self.

Wright out coached! We should have pushed the tempo the entire game. We should have ran pick and rolls on Jawai constantly to tire him out and he can't guard DJ outside. In the 3rd we should have looked for DJ in the offense, It was several minutes before he even had a shot in the 3rd. Instead of playing Hodgson on Jawai and just getting fouls, I would have liked to seen him guarding someone else and then helping out on defense.

I don't like the mindset of Wright so far, he continually goes crazy at our players. It is like he thinks he is untouchable because regardless of how the season goes he will have a job either here or in Brisbane next year.

Even with how poorly we played I don't know how this is a reality check. Sixers were leading most of the game with Perth being a (dirty but) quality side. Perth hit 2 huge 3's and with two foul shots made it game over. After that we were in desperation mode. If Perth didn't hit those 8 points it could have been a Sixers win. People will say "Yeah but Perth didn't have Martin" I would take a healthy McNeail over Martin.

Yeah, its a bit of an over-reaction to write McNeail off. He looked good in pre-season to me and just needs to get this injury sorted out.

I thought Hodgson was good in the first half, but not surprisingly against the wily Cats he ended up in foul trouble. I'm curious as to why Joey basically didn't play him in the second half, as he is a far better solution to defend Jawai than DJ?

I didn't really like the matchups Joey went for in general in this game. I think playing Hodgson and DJ together was a mistake, because we were then forced into a stretch late in the 2nd quarter when Petrie and Walker were our bigs and we got KILLED on the boards. Also, some of our wings need to do a better job of anticipating the long rebounds. Perth were first to far too many of them.

Other than that, we need to do a better job of setting screens to get our shooters good looks. Perth did that really well late in the game and sealed the win with three quick threes from Beal and Redhage. Because of Perth's defence, our guys rarely got such good looks from the perimeter tonight.

Im well aware everyone thinks I'm over reacting etc but i stand by my opinion. I had bad gut feelings on both these guys and so far not good. Trying to compare Ebe's weight issues to Jawai is laughable. For one its a bit of a bonus, as his size is hard to move down low, for Ebe its a hinderance.

Early foul trouble hurt Hodgson and Perth does have some of the best, if not the best, front line in the NBL.

Melbourne's front line could match them, both of these teams seem to have everything in the right amounts.

Perth v Melbourne is my early call for the final...

Melbourne with a really undersized frontline will need their bigs hitting shots to beat the top teams.

Re multiple games having an effect, this season only has one less round than last year, so there won't be much change in that regard.

In regards to the long rebounds I don't think teams can do too much against that. The player is boxing out their player and the ball goes over them with no chances of jumping up to get it. It is frustrating for fans but there is basically nothing the defensive player can do in that circumstance. The only positive is to think that at least the defense is in a good position to set up again.

Great job taking the chockies for the first game. Big away wins are worth their weight in gold.

I agree long rebounds are often hard to snag, but tonight there were too many examples of Perth's wings like Hire, Prather and Wagstaff, reading where the rebound was going and chasing it down before our guys. I'd like to see Creek in particular making a point of hunting down defensive boards.

Rebounding was the clear point of difference between the two sides, which is ... let's say fascinating, because of how it was also the point of difference when Adelaide thumped New Zealand a few nights ago.

Second point of difference was Wildcats, in particular Beal, hitting big shots from deep. That one where Beal was six inches in from the sideline or so and hit it despite the defender was a real momentum changer, I feel. Rebounding and some clutch moments.

Did anyone notice some of the production improvements tonight? For instance, I liked that they crossed to the video of Ebi with his sub zero mask lol

What does that mask do for Ere?

Comparing him to his last stint in the NBL, I'm guessing that the mask makes him suck a little harder

Ere's mask is an altitude mask.

It simulates oxygen levels at different altitude levels.

Forces your lungs to adapt and become more efficient with less air.

Quite a common training tool these days.

@Nathan

Correct, rebounding had a big say in the result.

Adelaide were hungry against New Zealand and got after loose balls, players like Hire make their careers out of these 1%'ers and were just wanting the ball more.

Put it down to fatigue as this was the Sixer's second game against good opposition.

Lets not focus on individuals.

When Hodgson is fully fit, which he is not, he provides that big rebounder and shot blocking centre that we need.

Anon'843, agreed have to give the Wildcats due credit for their tenacity on Defence and rebounding. The Sixers getting outplayed cannot be put on tiredness solely.

Kobe24 - are you forgetting how good McNeail did up in the Blitz?

While doubling up on Jawai, he gave a lotta assists. So big, so strong, too good

It's his leg..cain't get fitness hobbling around