The streak was always going to end. 30 straight and 7 championships, us Perth fans have had it pretty sweet. It's not the end of the world and they'll bounce back.
Season is no where near over yet either and we already seen how the leaguer can quickly be turned upside down.

Meanwhile, I'm sure everyone else's fan base will be sitting back enjoying the Cats slump.... enjoy it while it lasts ;)

A lot of butthurt fans at the Arena last night....and I never bumped into Dazz.

That dude would've been inconsolable. LOL

I tripped over a lot of dummies walking down the stairs, including my own

No complaints from me if the streak comes to an end. It's been a pretty handy run dating back to my first season following the team.

My only fear is for Jack. Not sure he'll deal with it as well as I will.

I can't imagine Jack is too happy atm and curious to see how quickly changes come about... If it was purely injuries being the root of the losses, I doubt it would be too bad, but it seems a few players are getting called out for their effort the last couple of games and it's bad enough as a fan copping that, let alone if you're Jack...

A bit premature I think...

Agreed. The cats will miss playoffs. And it come down to poor forward planning.
Martin and Knight are injury prone. Martin is praised for his courage going hell for leather on defense but I think it's time to reel it in if he wants to prolong his career.
Knight is always hurt, it's part of his game and his body is breaking down. I'm gobsmacked this was not taken into consideration when they recruited his backup or just should of retained Jervis.
The bench is a worry. Redhage is done. Nothing wrong with father time and wagstaff is a clone. It doesn't help when they haven't adjusted their game as flopping won't be tolerated.
I'm not a Gleason fan and think he is over his head. He put the team together with Marvin (don't remember Marvin being a coach or player *sarcasm).
The streak will be over and if Bendat is smart he will clean house.
Short term - release JJ and MCKay. Get two imports - one a point guard and another versatile backup big who can be interchangeable with knight as he is going to be nursed through the season.
Sign a skilled Aussie youngster someone who is more than a three point shooter. And play Dexter more. He can shoot.
Long term - Nielsen coach, new player conditioning coach, sign two not three stud imports (prather can come back) sign a marquee Aussie (any position) wagstaff to bench. Release hire, redhage, wroe and seriously consider knight as asst coach and not play.

I like the look of Bragg and brandt is underused. Dex can be a player like a Andrew Parkinson.
All in all poor player recruiting and management.
The need to move away from sentiment and get rid of hire and redhage.

I mostly like the look of Bragg too, but yikes that shooting stroke is ugly. His free throws weren't even close.

JJ is playing like a guy trying to keep his job, which usually doesn't work out well.

I'm all on-board the Bragg train too, but people are going to start playing right off him like Gary Ervin if he doesn't show he can shoot. Insane speed.

It's only close because of the games Perth played with Martin in the lineup. They're 1-5 without him.

Knight is always hurt, it's part of his game and his body is breaking down. I'm gobsmacked this was not taken into consideration when they recruited his backup or just should of retained Jervis.

Supposedly Wagstaff likes coming off the bench, but I'd be pushing him to play big minutes and start.

Haha Perth.

Losers.

Just joking. I'm a Sixers fan and describe what Perth has done the last 3 decades to non basketball fans and they're blown away.

All good things end eventually. If they do happen to miss the playoffs look out next year. They'll probably sign LeBron

I hope Perth miss the playoffs, if only to laugh at Spazz.

Kenny IS the coverage for Martin. Smart move getting him last season, and well done keeping him. The problem is not "No Martin" per sae, its that Martin & Kenny had to cover for our lack of a decent 2 man.

At the other end, its losing Jervis, and McKay not being a big scorer putting too much on Knight's shoulders.

I'm not pinning the whole blame on the imports. But they are the hired guns, the guys you go for to fill the spaces. With Wagstaff you've got a guy who's not starting material, but a decent 6th man, Brandt is still a decent backup centre, and Hire and Redhage (now) are role players. That meant we needed another scoring option up front, preferably a high scoring option, or at least a big guy who could dominate.
To partner Knight they went for somebody more athletic, which was a good move in it and of itself, but we just need McKay to improving and score some more points. I still have hope for him, but he also needs a couple of guards who are better at feeding him the ball.

JJ, I feel sorry for. He was never the right fit for the team, he got cut once, and then asked to return. And to be honest, there's no point replacing him if our only option is another el cheapo D-League scrubber.

As for Jack, he and Eleanor are beloved of Perth fans, but he is very old and frail now. Not sure how much time he spends worrying about the running of the Cats.

As for the streak, it would be sad to see it end, because once its gone its never coming back.
It will be interesting to see if the Cats make any bold moves.

Yeah I thought Brandt was cover for Knight and replacement for Jervis. McKay is that import on top wasn't he?
I like Brandt but he isn't able to show anything because Gleeson hasn't used him properly.
Poor imports need to be replaced. And my opinion is Marvin is getting to involved with player recruiting without really being qualified to do so.
He reminds me of a vivek radanive from the Sacramento kings who gets to involved with playing personnel without being an expert.
Pffft redhage is taking the place and minutes of a youngster who could do more I think. He should have retired on top.
Casey is the stud player, he needs quality with him. Our expectations on imports need to be higher.

Perth needs a shooter who can spread the D. Bragg gives them something with speed and offensive aggression but to be an NBL player needs to fix his shot. How someone with his talent can get thru a junior career without his action being fixed is disappointing.

The bigger worry for cats, perth is a bandwagon kind of state.

I meant support at PG should Martin go down, besides Kenny alone. Many teams seem to have three PG options with one combo guard. Norton, Clarke, Martin. Lisch, Cadee, Blake. Gibson, Beal, Bruce. Stockton, Webster, Tueta. Ware, Tomlinson, Moore?

I've never seen Perth people as bandwagoners, they do well with their AFL crowds consistently...

Perth is definitely not a bandwagon city!!

I meant support at PG should Martin go down, besides Kenny alone.

Marvin should have NO say in player choice, he's the GM, run the business. It's the coaching staff that should call the shots regarding players.

Who least deserves to be in the League - Wroe or Hire? Wroe struggled at state league level for Stirling, so it's baffling how he gets an NBL gig. Then you have the token west aussie in Hire who adds little to nothing off the bench aside from towel waving and learning how to perfect the art of cheapshots from the kings in that area of Redhage & Wagstaff.

I have heard mixed descriptions of Wroe from SBL watchers. He's not a scoring PG, and that causes people to write him off. Many thought Hussey was superior, because he scored more in SBL, but Wroe definitely looks more competent running the point at NBL level.
End of the day, he s a DP, not a regular player. He performed well last season when called upon, and I guess we all expected him to improve. Not sure that he has. He was saved by the one year age increase, so I don't expect to see him around after this season.

I think part of the issue is that Gleeson's game plan doesn't call for a scoring PG, so he's been happy with what Wroe has shown as a backup. But now we're struggling and could really do with someone who could run the ball AND score himself occasionally.

Even numbers > odd numbers

Or odd people.

Perth Next year:

- go after D-league Combo Guard (Make an attempt to steal Trice from Taipans)

- Retain Prather

- make an offer to Brock Motum

- look for a Physical D-league centre to share minutes with Brandt

you would hope Redhage considers retiring this offseason. Wagstaff has a few good years left.

Perth certainly needs to ask some hard questions at the end of this season. Probably should have been asked before the start, but that's history now.

Retaining Prather remains a priority, unfortunately he just keeps improving his chances of getting a NBA gig. They need to really chase some quality elsewhere, in case he doesn't come back.

Too much reliance on Knight & Martin, for guys who are getting on, and are injury prone. We need another big body to go banging, and we need more depth in the backcourt.

Wagstaff is still a very handy player, but I think he needs to move down the pecking order.

The Cats need to chase a local Marquee. The rule is there, and gives substantial S/C relief, so USE it. Try and land at least one of the guys currently playing in Europe (or see if somebody gets cut from the NBA) Try and get a bit more depth on the bench, then chase decent imports to fill the gaps.
Depending on what Aussies we can attract, would depend on how to use the import slots. But at a minimum we need a genuine scoring guard to partner Damo in the back court, somebody who can score and handle the ball. Plus a genuine scoring threat up front. In a perfect world I'd like to see Knight coming off the bench as the 6th man.
I'd also like to see a local on the bench who can genuinely backup the SF role.

What will be interesting to see is if the Wildcats do miss the playoffs, what will that do to their attendances at Perth Arena?

Are they going to continue pulling in 10,000+ every home game or will it start to drop off a bit?

In terms of attendance sand memberships, I don't think a single year of "missing the playoffs" will be hugely determinative. In 2015 we went out with barely a whimper in one home game. That obviously deadened things a bit, but not drastically.
It's also about how they respond. After that disappointment, they went out and signed Jawai, and Greenwood/ Kenny. That got us competitive again pretty quickly.
What would eventually start to gut the Cats is if we keep losing too many games at home.

If (and its still too early to call) this season is a bust, it will depend how they respond, and how we start to look next season.

I still think they'll average more in home attendance than any other team (unless Sydney suddenly starts filling Qudos and they don't need to use those bloody curtains) because fans don't suddenly stop supporting them. But I just wonder if a losing season will see their Perth Arena average drop below 10,000 for the first time?