This one worries me, not sure how the Croc's can go to W.A. in the mental state they are in and compete against one of the best, if not currently the best list in the NBL...

Crocs were pretty good in Round 2, not far off a road sweep, then terrible against Melbourne. Which team will show up tonight? They've been pretty competitive against Perth under Dennis' watch, so I think they'll at least make a contest of it, even if they do drop away as the game wears on.

If they don't bounce back from Wednesday and show some pride it will be a very worrying sign for them. Can't be much more embarrassed than they were.

Im the words of Clubber Lang the prediction.... "Painnnnn".

Prather and Marto in doubt.

More excited about watching Randle play again to be honest.

If Jett has another stinker he could be gone.

Jawai to drop 20 easy points.

Cats by 25.

I actually rate the Hawks, but also the 6'ers are making some noise while Perth and Melbourne are front runners at the moment the Breakers have found a new lease of life and let's face it both QLD teams have decent enough lists and Sydney won't be a push over once they are at full strength.

So, the league looks pretty healthy to me, I guess is what I am burbling on about...

Happy Days!

Question marks over Prather and Martin makes this an intriguing contest.

Crocs have been mostly competitive except for blown off the court twice by hot shooting from United. Have a feeling they will keep this close ish

If they can speed this up, as they like to do, it's in their favour, same with game against Cairns, whereas speeding it up against Melbourne was a no-no that played right into United's hands. Jett, Conklin and Steindl must all perform well tonight to give them a chance though.

Ahh Prather out really does make it interesting, will be closer than people think. Crocs need to take advantage of undermanned teams!

Conklin has a stellar record against the Wildcats. 19.4ppg across 7 games over the pass 2 seasons. He loves playing them, and he's due for a big game.

The problem for them is that they don't have any other scorers. Two of those three need to have big nights for them to be any chance of a win- like against Sydney, Jett and Steindl combined for 40 points.

Yeah someone anyone other than Conklin has to hold the defence accountable... Jett needs to be that guy for mine. Steindl is a great catch and shoot guy but not self creator.

I'm expecting a close and ugly game tonight :-/

Like RMQ I think I'm more looking forward to Kings-36rs than this one.
But since my seat costs me $13974 per game (or thereabouts) I guess I had better use it!

Just to be controversial, Crocs by 2.

Sportsbet have Cats $1.10, Crocs $7.00
I favour the Wildcats to win it, but that seems over the top to me.
Handicap is -12.5 points

Id be looking at the Crocs on the line or even alternate, IF Prather is actually out, will def be close than a 25 point blow out that people expect.

"my seat costs me $13974 per game"

Idiot!

Agree with the pace of the game especially if Prather is out then Perth has zero Athleticism. Think Conklin is due a big game only trouble is all the attention he gets. I say Perth by 10.

Prather noticeably absent from this mornings shoot around - source Wildcats Snapchat account.

He was there in a warm up shirt tho.

Here's my preview to the game
http://wildcatsviews.com/2015/10/22/preview-perth-wildcats-vs-townsville-crocodiles/

Sadly due to work commitments I cant go to the game tonight, so have passed my membership pass on to a fellow co worker.

Martin and Prather confirmed out.

Id even consider using Wroe this game or Wagstaff as a Guard.

The Cats have a nightmare type schedule from here so this is a must win. They play the Hawks and the United away next and the Breakers and the Hawks away again in the next 6 games.

Wow. Scathing words from Dennia following the Melb game. Pretty big attack on Jett.

Young should have been T'd up for that. Pretty much charged at Knight.

Perth is already on 13 and Townsville have so far only attempted 4 shots. How is that even possible?

its getting ugly out there..

Kenny is perhaps the most underrated player in the league.

He is the MVP of the league in terms of the player who is fulfilling their job description/role best.

I'm turning off after 7 minutes. Townsville are TERRIBLE!

This is getting ugly

8 point run out of nowhere for Townsville.

Dennis always complains whe Conklin doesn't get a call. Does he not realise that Conklin initiates the contact virtually every single time..Dennia has this expectation that as long as Conklin draws the contact its a foul.

Kenny is a great pickup by Perth.

Much better effort by Townsville!

I'm with you XY. Good thing I didn't pay almost $1400 per game.

Amy Schumer is sad but fun on the comedy channel right now unlike Townsville.

Wait what did Maynard actually do?

Looked like absolutely nothing to me?

That would be the worst tech foul call ever!

4 point game!

Id be pushing Jawai's sweaty body off me too! Reminds of that scene in Along Came Polly!

Great 1/4 from Townsville think that the tech on Maynard was harsh. What did Maynard do that was any different from Jawai?

Perth's offense needs overhauling.

They hold onto the ball for too long and just pass around the perimeter slowly. Everything is just slow.

Is Jawai hurt?

Geez it'd be a nice win for the Crocs and the league, dare to dream. And i was wondering the same about Jawai has to be injured surely...

love the commentators enthusiasm

lol Selena Gomez

Henry for threeeeeee

Wow... 7 points down with 2:32 left.
11-2 run, 3 3s and 2 free throws, with 2 missed free throws for Greg Hire and Townsville are up 2 with 30 secs left.

Unbelievable.

Henry gets the steal and is fouled. Makes 1 of 2.
Perth with the 12 seconds, need 3 to tie it.

Townsville win!

Wow!

Go Crocs, just an enormous effort that...

Crocs win

TOWNSVILLE!

Perth scored 35 points after quarter time. 28 in the first.
Might be the biggest turnaround I've ever seen after that first quarter.

WOW, great result, good games tonight!

Gleeson to get the chop..

OMG. Anyone know how much they would have been paying when they were down by 17 in the first!!!

Anyone take the $7 on offer?

Holy cow, how good was that?! Crocs couldn't have played any worse in the first quarter but gee they were a committed, discipline team after that.

So good to see Mitch Norton step up with a huge game like that, he was icewater, and some really nice contributions from Leon Henry, Nick Kay and Corey Maynard. The lesser lights getting it done!

Bloody awesome win by the crocs, great to see mitch Norton shooting the ball

The Crocs looked absolutely hapless early on. Perth had scored 8 points before Townsville even had a shot attempt recorded. I started to wonder how a team getting thumped by 30 each game was going to last the season.

Then it seemed to start with Conklin getting fired up, and even though he didn't score much, his team got on board and reeled in the lead. And then hung around. And then won.

Hugely entertaining game to watch.

Hats off to the TLV team, total underdogs and no one would have given them half a chance in this one, I was hoping they could give a good account of themselves tonight but that was beyond brilliant...

Just goes to show, in a two horse race, anything can happen!

Hats off to the commentators too, particularly Dwayne Russell, he rode the Crocs home like a jockey at Flemington!

Apologies!

Outstanding effort by the Crocs. Absolutely played with heart and intensity. My cats were pathetic today. Depleted or not, that was insipid as a fan to watch. Here's hoping they bounce back on Sunday.
Ps- #sackgleeson

Guess I turned off too soon. On the upside, saw a half ok movie.

In all honesty, that was just a shit game.
Seemed to be a lot of agro, not really sure what it was all about, double-fouls, and tech fouls.
Cats were just crap.
I love a good tough defensive grind, but it wasn't.

BUT full credit to Townsville. They weren't great, but they knew what they had to do and the nailed it.
Absolutely MURDERED us from outside.

Yes, Jawai limped off. Couldn't tell what exactly it was, could have been an ankle maybe.
But it was no great loss, we still had plenty of size out there.

Unfortunately our complete reliance on Beal failed us tonight. Most nights he pulls our nuts from the fire, tonight he had an off night, and it costs us.
We can't keep overplaying him, make him run the point as well half the time, and expect him to keep producing.

Knight was brilliant as always, but I'm starting to wonder if we aren't better off with him at Centre, and keeping the "two centres" trick for an occasional outing only.

BTW some of Jordair Jett's defence on Jermaine Beal was top notch tonight.

I took the $7 when I saw it still being offered after Martin & Prather were confirmed out. Just dumb odds in a 2 horse race.
Now I'm pissed off at both the Wildcats for blowing that game, and myself for not betting more!

"I'm expecting a close and ugly game tonight :-/"
I should have bet on that as well. Probably would have got about $1.01 on that bold prediction :p

I tell ya's....

All this crap about "sack gleeson" and yet after the win a few weeks back v 36ers in Adelaide, he was GOD.

If you thought your team was awesome, they are.
But sometimes, things go pear-shaped without warning.

Cut the crap on the coach, guess all those wins and titles you've won with him at the helm dont count for much now do they?

NB: I am getting sick of the repeated BS around Martin.
Two weeks ago he was supposedly a game-night decision away from playing, and we still haven't seen him.

As for Kenny, I don't know what he cost us, points or otherwise, but if you were looking for a back-up PG, he'd be an excellent pickup. Problem is that he now has to play as the strtaing PG, with Wroe as his backup, and without Martin or Prather we were exposed.

Credit to the Crocs for getting back in the game and getting the win after being 20 points down. Perths offence is just ugly. Hopefully we get Damo and Prather back for Sunday.

More bad news on the injury front for cats....

"The Perth Wildcats could go into Sunday's game against the Illawarra Hawks without four of their starting five after Nate Jawai and Matt Knight were injured in a horror three-point loss to the Townsville Crocodiles tonight."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/29894757/perth-wildcats-swallowed-by-crocs/

Knight injured?
Gee that's not something you hear often...
Cats are too shallow and too injury prone, and with that in mind I'm not sure Nate was the best fit.

Hire's ok value to have coming off the bench into a 4 spot, even a 3/4. As a 2 he sucks

God, that was a disgrace.

Is it Jesse Wagstaff who is sponsored by SKG Radiology? Whoever it is, after they mentioned it during the game I turned to my mate and said surely it should be Matty Knight that's sponsored by them.
Sure enough, within half an hour of that comment, down he went :/
Looked like the type of injury that might take a while to get right, too. Those shoulders can be tricky.

Thought it looked like a small crowd also but they still managed 10400.

Kudos to the Crocs btw for hanging tough.
From their POV that must have been a pretty epic win.

Damo still injured, Prather pulled up sore. Something about reaggravating whatever he hurt with that miscued dunk attempt in the last couple minutes against NZ.

Both injured. As well as Jawai and Matty after tonight.

Yeah, and no doubt went a long way to explain why we looked like chooks that had been given brain trauma before being turned into headless chooks on our last few offensive sets.

And holy effing balls, is it an actual strategy of ours that we should constantly leave 3pt shooters open? The number of times Abercrombie and Bartlett got open shots last week, the open threes we let Townsville take late.

Surely Gleeson has to recognise there is a problem here?

@p557662 there was no dice rolling. Prather and Damo are still injured. Any coach with healthy players plays them. Playing injured players before being fully fit at this early stage of the season would be plain stupid. Cats will bounce back once everyone is fully fit. Hope Nate and Matty pull up okay.

In fairness, leaving Bartlett & Abercrombie alone outside the arc has traditionally been a pretty solid philosophy on D.
When I saw Henry open though ... I just knew that one was gonna drop.

Great to see the arrogant Perth supporters get a taste of the real world.

Are Martin and Prather still injured or were merely rested tonight?

That second quarter...

Crocs actually started showing some ball movement on offence which resulted in good looks for three, which hasn't happened a lot so far this year. Perth did a great job on Conklin all game giving him no room to move in the post and triple teamed him on the Henry three, Conklin was just good enough to find the shooter.

I'd like to see the crocs use that a lot more this year as teams smother Conklin, who is usually very hard to stop in the post. It's not something I remember seeing a lot of with Conklin over the last couple of years (drawing the d and kicking out to the shooters) he usually just bully's his way to the hoop.

Aah the minnows rise up again. Shame on you Crocs,only "big " cities are allowed in the comp according to the muppets on this forum!

@Kr. Absolutely right: Conklin needs to continue to learn how to pass out of double teams better because he's going to see a lot of them this year. Passing is the one thing he needs to really improve.

Great to see Norton play assertively. I don't know where his head has been all year, but we need him to be looking to score in double figures every game and look for his shot, especially at the rim where he can finish when he wants to. Hopefully this game was not an aberration and he is back to his old self, or else i'm really worried about his career, because he has been playing poorly even in the state league for the last couple of years.

Also, am I the only one that thinks the Crocs would be better without Luke Schenscher at this point? He should have never been brought in, and his money should have gone to a better import. The more minutes Kay gets the better, he's already a better scorer and rebounder than Big Red.

Great win from a really young team. Clint Steindl is one of the oldest guys on this team. That's how young they are.

Words cannot explain my regret at turning off at half time.

Mick, I don't think Schenscher was a bad pick up, but I do think he should be Kay's back-up. Kay suits the Crocs' style a lot better and could be a big part of the team's future if they survive.

Schenscher should play with a versatile line-up like Maynard, Jett, Steindl and Henry, who can spread the floor, use athleticism to create passing lanes on cuts off the post, and be disruptive defensively with Luke behind them.

Re a better import, Jett is quality, he just needs to get fit.

I think Jett when he gets full fitness and a custom to the league will have an expolsive second half to the season. And yes if Conklin can regularly find the open shooter while being smoothered in defense the Crocs will ruffle quite a few feathers this year.

I was told last night by Cats staff that the medical team won't let Damo come back until he has several injury free training sessions. They don't want to re-injure like last time. And apparently Prather's injury is worse than they originally thought.

Agree with Anon 738 above re. defending Conklin. He doesn't seem to want to kick it out until he has literally no other options available.
Hopefully for his & Crocs' sakes he had a bit of an epiphany last night that winning can actually be just as fun as stat padding in a loss.

Hawks still paying $1.70 that's easy money right there. Wish I had some more bucks in my betting account.

That's very generous isn't it. Might have to get a piece of that action. That's my favourite type of bet ... I'd be happy to lose my money if the Cats can pull out a road win.

Here's my very reluctant recap of last nights debacle

http://wildcatsviews.com/2015/10/24/perth-wildcats-vs-crocs-what-just-happened/

@Anon, I started with $10 deposit on sportsbet a few weeks ago at the start of the NBL season I don't really ever bet big and have withdrawn at least $200 and have about $120 in bets pending so yeah I know nothing. NBL and WNBL betting is easy money.

I also have a large bet on the Hawks.

@Anon, Ok my bad...get it now. Its easy to get defensive around here with so many anon's about.

Whats with perths inability to defend the 3pt line, as a Hawks fan I can only hope they continue that trend as Hawks will destroy them.