If it is corban Wroe or Redhage it is ok.

Perth vs Cairns twice in 5 days. NBL trying to get arguably the least-attractive combo in the league out of the way quietly? :p

I like watching our games against Perth. At least you don't get all the opposition fans complaining that their players were being touched.
Much as last night was entertaining, simply reality is that Perth is seldom going to beat a team that scores 95 points.

I'm interested to see if Jawai still can't get a foul call, even on his home court? In which case we just get someone to hack his arms. "Hack-an-Outback-Shaq"?

On paper Perth should win this game but we all know that means nothing in this competition. If Perth can start to play 4 quarters instead of 2-3 they can be a powerhouse. Cotton might be the peice of the puzzle they were missing but they are still yet to put the jigsaw together.

Dazz your correct in what you say in your post, Perth should dominate in the backcourt and SF position with Worthington and Jawai sure to cause troubles for McKay and Knight. I'd like to see Brandt get the a start in this one - he is a bit stronger in the paint to what McKay is and might be better equipped to deal with Jawai.

This is a game that Perth should and need to win however Cats seem to struggle in FNQ and it's going to be a tight one. Perth by 3

The Wildcats are not just a team, they are the team. Check it out:

https://thewest.com.au/sport/perth-wildcats/perth-wildcats-players-re-enact-backstreet-boys-video-ng-b88356066z

Dazz your correct in what you say in your post, Perth should dominate in the backcourt and SF position with Worthington and Jawai sure to cause troubles for McKay and Knight. I'd like to see Brandt get the a start in this one - he is a bit stronger in the paint to what McKay is and might be better equipped to deal with Jawai.

I think we're going to get caned by a resurgent Perth team with a point to prove. That said, I am massively looking forward to the 2 hours of nonstop abuse that Trevor Gleeson catches when Perth come to town. Most coaches are smart enough to ignore it. Trevor isn't.

Game on Trevor, game on.

Trevor is a mongrel when it comes to sideline refreeing.

It raises his systolic pressure so he doesn't put it on his players.

Its difficult to get a read on perth. They have only shown flashes of what they can do when their offense clicks. Can they start to play four quarters by the time the finals come around.

Can we *please* have another out of bounds call go against Perth, just so we get to hear Gleeson's voice transition to a 8 year old girl's again?

Its difficult to get a read on perth. They have only shown flashes of what they can do when their offense clicks. Can they start to play four quarters by the time the finals come around.

If the Cats actually make some of their layups or point blank shots, might have a chance.

I wouldn't start Brandt, starting 5 has been pretty good .....for me Knight has to be the match up early on Nate, with Brandt the rotation coming off the bench just to lean on him.

Knight and the Cats would know Nate's game inside out and it is all about making the big fella work hard and not letting him catch it deep.

Looking forward to the physicality of this one.

The boys will get up here, you watch. Nate will go off for 20+ but Prather will break out of his funk

Never seem to play well up in cairns for some reason, the team more desperate will win.

Good measure of man's intelligence, money

The Taipans find a way to drag an opposition back to their level in Cairns. I expect the Snakes to play as slowly as possible, going through Nate for tempo control.

Taipans defence on P&R and rotations were really on the nose against United, shouldn't happen again. Either way I don't really rate Cotton's ability to manipulate screens like a Goulding, Ware or Randle. If we win the boards, we should do it.

The Taipans find a way to drag an opposition back to their level in Cairns. I expect the Snakes to play as slowly as possible, going through Nate for tempo control.

Perth and Cairns are both masters of the slow Bump & Grind, however Perth do now have the ability to cut lose when there is an opportunity.

Really depends how badly they want this. We all know that traditionally Perth travel poorly, especially to FNQ, but they have turned that axiom around with 3/3 on the road when their season was on the line.

With all three imports performing sub par for most of the season(ie Trice good early),along with Wortho out of sorts,this might get ugly.
I'm thinking Perth by double figures.

yeah, I never get that one right. Cut loose?

Haha yeah Dazz, 'loose'

There are a few jugs to go round if Wildcats behave today.

People don't realise, but Cairns also have the ability to cut loose too. They only do it at home though, and it's almost always Wortho who ignites it.

Cotton to dunk on Wortho and Nate for a #poster

I actually think Cairns have a good chance in this game. I don't think it will be a blow out before the 4th Q. In that last Q? - who knows what will happen.

Hire starting for Perth. More than makes up for the loss of Wortho :p

Prather out of the 5. Will he play?

‏@PerthWildcats

WILDCATS ALERT

Casey Prather has been ruled out of tonight's game after pulling up sore.

McKay wtf?

Anyone know what the story is with Prather? Besides "pulled up sore"?

Big outs for both teams, may change the dynamic.
I'd suggest Cairns are better able to cover Wortho, than Perth are to cover Prather.

Cats not wasting any time blowing a lead tonight

19-6 run... boy the cats stink at defense this season. We no longer get the steady defensive stops we used to get in previous seasons

I don't mind conceding 19 in a quarter as much as I mind only scoring 15.

3 fouls already for the cats, sick

Prather tweaked his ankle in Sat nights game, but played the game out.

Hire... with a game-high 7 points... c'mon now

Forgot to rebound

28-34 in almost a half. That's not an unusual quarter for a Sixers game.

Wildcats not playing Wildcats basketball.

Really, really hard to watch professional players flub easy layups so much.

A good 36ers quarter would cover this half.

Both Teams have enough speed and skill to actually run, must be frustrating to have to slam the brakes on all the time.

The guys at Wildcats will lose their jobs, given this performance.

Wildcats chemistry hitting a low point

Terrible "travel" call then soft foul called on Nate. How dare he complain.

Turnover city

Good to see nothing has changed and we stink it on offense. Cotton 3 from 11, not NBA standard.

At least Cotton is being proactive even if he's not super efficient right now. It's important that he keeps making things happen not not too many others are.

Wagstaff you flog. Run into the line of the player and then sell the contact

Cotton looks good when he's on the move and the Cats get him some space.

They are just too stagnant normally.

That is not a foul on Egwu, it is staggering what they are calling in games.

Buckets for WEEKS!

Is it just me or does Weeks put his hand right underneath the ball on pretty much every dribble?

3 seconds left on the clock and Kenny runs away from the ball handler an hot hand.

For fuks sake Gleeson get Drew on the court, not more than 3 games ago he was dropping threes, now he rides the pine when one of our main scorers is out.

Just reading the release about Worthington.

"Medical staff and Worthington came to a mutual agreement late this afternoon that he was better suited to sit out tonight."

Can someone shut that guy behind the bench in yellow up,does it every game.

Drew with the falcon followed by getting posterised

"For fuks sake Gleeson get Drew on the court, not more than 3 games ago he was dropping threes, now he rides the pine when one of our main scorers is out."

Yeah how did that one workout for you?

Gleeson goes with a horrible line up to start the 4th

This is hard to watch. Once again Cats are no certainty to make the playoffs this year. So many times in this game the team goes missing at either end of the court. Pissweak performance. Gleeson needs to go.

Killed off by Loughton. That really hurts.

All the Wildcats shld be sacked...they are playing like amateurs.

"Is it just me or does Weeks put his hand right underneath the ball on pretty much every dribble?"

I too thought it looks like he's carrying.



Loving the Cairns bench getting right behind their team from the sideline. Great energy!

Given drew 12 mins not points

"Medical staff and Worthington came to a mutual agreement late this afternoon that he was better suited to sit out tonight."

Go wildcats

Jarrod and Drew fairly hopeless

Awesome time for a tech, Trev. Onya

Well done Gleeson you flog.

Lol my god..what an ending!

This whole end game has been weird as hell

Actually think it was a fair ending. Both Cotton and McKay were out of trouble..if it wasnt a charge on McKay it was probably a travel.

Credit to Perth for that comeback though.

Well the tempo was pretty much as expected. A total of 6 points scored on the fast break, pretty much sums it up.
The overall result was not unexpected, But didn't foresee Weigh and Weeks murdering us from outside.

McKay sitting on his bum early with foul-trouble was always a worry, and as predicted he wasn't able to regain any ascendancy

Cotton is starting to look wasteful, just throwing bricks everywhere, hope he settles down.

Prather just leaves too big a hole.

Last year, with Jawai starting, and Jervis on the bench, Knight did a lot less heavy-lifting and played out the season strongly. This year, as has happened previously, he's tiring. Still works his butt off though.

I like that the Cats kept plugging away, almost closed the gap, but just a bridge too far.

Nothing to panic about, but not a great weekend, results wise.

How the fuck could the ref call that off Cottons foot when it was clearly off Cairns. Screwed big time

Even in a win, Cairns that is why you won't play playoffs. How many games have they thrown away at home this year? Thank god the only guy with IQ Gliddon came back on the court..

Out of control* not trouble.

Wow!!!!! What a couple absolutely terrible calls/no calls. Cotton fouled by Weeks. Weeks kicking it out. Then McKay with a charge from a flop.

I'm no Perth fan but they got hosed.

Perth have no one but themselves to blame. They raised their intensity when the game was almost out of reach.

Nice comeback, aided by a fair choke from Cairns, but too little too late for the cats.

mmmmmm I love me some Perth salt.

Delicious!

McKay injuries his knee, in clear pain goes down on his haunches and the crowd boo him, what a clear lack of class from the cairns crowd, doesn't surprise me anyway.

Perth seem to have gone away from what has made them so good over these years.

Prototypical Perth basketball has been a mid-post post up by Knight with movement and play off that.

They are so heavily perimeter reliant now with Cotton; I haven't seen Knight fed the ball anywhere near as much this year. They are struggling to get those easy baskets.

Stevie Weigh was the top scorer for Cairns - how do you feel Cats fans?

You could watch the Weeks out of bounds 10 times on without being able to conclude who it was off.

Clear charge on McKay. If people think that was moving then they might want to rewind until when Knight set a massive moving screen which gifted Wildcats with a 3 pointer.

Stop complaining about the refs again. Your team and coached stuffed up. It is as simple as that.

Kingpodge mm I love some salt with our 7 championships. Tastes good

I thought Perth got the better run with the refs for most of the game tbh.

haha hook, line and sinker.

mmmmmm delicious.

Even Trigger saw the ball went off Weeks. Surely it was reviewable?

"The funny thing was they did review it. And still got it wrong. That's just how bad the refs are in this league"

No they reviewed it, it was inconclusive evidence so they went with the original decision.

Inconclusive? Did they watch both angles? Second angle on TV shows Weeks foot and Cottons nowhere near the ball.

Toft: Weigh was a solid contributor to our 5th championship. We have won our 6th and 7th championship since he left so we don't miss him at all.

Brunson: You are a moron if you think that was a moving screen by Knight. The Cairns player was lucky to not get called for a flop.

That was a poor play by Cotton.He never got head and shoulders ahead of Agent 99 so he made it easy for the no call,
Why wasn't he looking for the 3. Home court rub of the green. Perth should never have got themselves into that position.
Clears out top spot for Adelaide.
Sets up a dog fight for 4th spot.

It was clearly off Weeks's foot, although Cotton may have touched it after that with his hand.

Gliddon was moving into McKay.

Can't really blame Gleeson for getting that technical; he's gotten away with it for three years now.

But how IN THE NAME OF HELL do you not foul with four seconds to go when you have the guy TRAPPED IN THE DAMN CORNER? There's four seconds to go, that's not time enough to gamble on an interception.

I hate perth and I thought they were pretty much bent over in the last minute

"Kingpodge mm I love some salt with our 7 championships. Tastes good" There is the exact reason why everyone hates Perth. Just saying

So annon are you saying we can't be proud of our history??? Sorry for being so successful.

Maybe if Perth play with that kind of speed and desperation for an entire game they might do a bit better.

They have the players to do it.

I love a good Perth bash as much as most people but they got multiple bad calls/no calls in a row on them.

Yeah to not foul in the last 4 seconds was a huge brain fart, it's like they gave up.

"It was clearly off Weeks's foot, although Cotton may have touched it after that with his hand."

Agreed, kr. I'm guessing he did, but I'm not sure.

People are making up the numbers this season. No one is beating Adelaide over a 3 game series. Lets not kid ourselves into believing otherwise.

Clearly off Week's foot but to say that was a foul on Weeks, you've got to be kidding...........

But I'm going to attempt to lighten things up. For anyone who saw Gleeson's presser, why did he spend the whole time basically massaging his left pec/breast? "I don't know what to do with my hands.. "

Stevie Weigh was the top scorer for Cairns - how do you feel Cats fans?

People are making up the numbers this season. No one is beating Adelaide over a 3 game series. Lets not kid ourselves into believing otherwise.

Blaming the refs is a cop out, if we played the whole game like last two minutes then we would not have been in that position . Play with that intent the whole game and we don't have to worry about what the refs are doing.

The refs are making terrible calls every game, against both teams.

The fact remains our offensive output is crap, Cotton was supposed to be the answer to our outside woes, his 3 point shooting outside of his first game is horrible. He is 6 from 28 in 4 games.And that is going 3 of 4 in his first game.

Painful loss to Perth that might come back to night them if they miss the playoffs. Credit to Cairns though, they hit some big buckets - in particular Weeks. Losing Prather was always going to be a big obstacle but that was still a win Perth should of got.

Can't fault the efforts of Brandt, Hire, Wagstaff or Martin but Perths inability to hit the 3 is a serious problem. Redhage is a passenger this season and should voluntarily retire. Knight also looking like an 11th man.

The question needs to be asked though - What is up with the Wildcats? No excuses anymore this team needs to start putting up descent wins.

you're right @kings fan.
Hawks and Adelaide have played 3 times so far and Hawks lead 2-1.
Still one game to play at Illawarra.

Refs have been consistently mediocre all season but it is what it is and you can't blame them for a teams loss. Players and coaches need to accept responsibility for their performances and fans need to deal with it.

What is up with the Wildcats?
ROFL
We won 3 tough road games, against finals contenders, went down to the league leaders, and narrowly lost a tough road game two days later, without out best player.

Perth are going ok.

Looking forward to the rematch on Friday, but the trip to NZ is going to be a killer.

Great post Vic Wildcat.

koberulz I don't think Adelaide are heavy favourites. If Melbourne have their full team they are as good if not better than Adelaide. Adelaide are still yet to beat Illawarra in Illawarra. Adelaide have just been a lot more consistent with less injuries and less changing of players.

Perth drop to 5th

Last time I checked Adelaide smashed the Hawks the last time they met.The two Hawks wins were when Adelaide was playing no where near the ball they are playing. If you think the Hawks are going to beat this Adelaide offence then good luck.

No one is a "heavy favourite" right now and there's a good reason for that. It has been that type of season.
Adelaide deserve to be favourites for sure, but they're paying $3.60 which is pretty long odds for the favourite team this late in a season. I'm sure there is a twist or two left over the next month.

As for a losing record in Wollongong, that's not really a huge obstacle if they finish in top spot with home court advantage, which looks likely.

Those first two losses to the Hawks were against the 3-6 36ers not the same team who've since won 12 of their last 13 games.

@Dazz - yes they lost against the best team in the league and a close one in Cairns but you have to admit - they are both games a finals contender should be winning. I'm as about as one eyed as a Cats supporter can be but you can't polish a turd and Perth should of got that win - even without Prather.

F#co my brown dog! Like we have said let the players decide the game!

Delicious artisinal Western Australian salt. Keeping it coming, morgans...

Hahaha ^

THE BOYS! UP 'EM SNAKES

See you next Friday ;)

Loving the sheer stupidity of some of the comments here.

Here is a Wildcats fan resigning to no finals this year. Not this team of fathers who lost their zest to play well.

Wish them early retirements.

Wonder who told Trev to shut up? Very quiet until it mattered then he stuffed up with a tech. Must have been a change for the assistants to be able to talk to the head coach instead of listeneing to him bleat at refs. Perff really need to adjust their offense to suit Cotton a bit more. Each time he turns the corner the key is full of people.

Haha Train, at this point I doubt any of us Orangemen give a flying f - - - about the remainder of our season. We know we're screwed.

We're cheering with nothing to lose.

If you're 9-11, you'd fancy your chances of stringing together a few wins and making a run for that 4th spot. Especially when you've got no less defeats than 3rd and 4th

Same dude, us Redmen are in the same boat! We are cheering for fuck all. We don't deserve to be in the finals. Until they pull there finger out of there arse it ain't gonna happen.

Think they thought they might stroll in the finals this year, but we are on life support and lucky for us other teams keep losing and that's the only reason we are still in with a chance to keep the streak alive.

Very unprofessional about the way they have gone about there business on and off the court this year. Team looks stale and over it. Need new blood to show a bit of passion.

Not saying cause we dropped two games, they have had double digits leads in a fair few games and just never went on to win a game comfortably.

Sure dazz and in your world when suited last place is actually first. You are such a moron. Cats are out of the playoffs if it started today, breathe deep let the fear in. It's all coming crashing down this season

Depends on how you draw the ladder.
They may be 5th on wins, but MU and Sydney have played 2 & 3 games more.
NBL has the Cats 4th, by my reckoning, we're 3rd.

"Wonder who told Trev to shut up?"

Anyone within shouting distance of him.

What the Cats really needed in this one was a guy who could shoot the 3 at a good clip, was a proven game winner (preferably with a track record of winning at least a couple of games in the crunch with big shots) a guy who could easily cover for Prather's absence, an import preferably familiar with the team and the league, someone who could qualify for finals and was a free agent. Preferably a guy with a Dwayne Dubley haircut. But where could you find a player who was such a perfect fit for the team?

*Dibbley

Third time lucky: Duane Dibbley

Stupid obscure references gone wrong.

I turned this game on with the pans up 12, a few minutes to go. I am still struggling to come to terms with the level of incompetence I saw after that. Perth were a little unlucky not to steal it, but 99.9 out of 100 times the team leading puts that away comfortably. Just take care of the ball and make them foul you for goodness sake. AND they were gifted a tech from Gleeson! Just all around weird end to the game.

Duane Dibbley references are not stupid!!

It was amazing how quickly Cairns went from absolutely rolling to choking, such a mental thing sport.

Must say though, it pretty much coincided with Weeks going out for Trice, Trav has such a low basketball IQ it's a stretch to call him a PG. He either needs to be on fire or he hurts them.

CNS did excellent in the last few minutes and deserved to win. They actually controlled the ball quite well given the amount of fouling PER were (as usual) getting away with on the ball handler.

The Gleeson tech had no impact on the game. The one FT was missed and CNS had possession anyway.

The game felt like PER were playing with experimental lineups to see how they'd cope in the event of losing key players during finals. But then you realise that is their lineup and they are pretty pathetic outside their big three (Prather/Cotton/McKay). Martin is only effective if the refs continue to not call fouls against him, but he's such a liability on offence it negates a lot of his defensive work.

I feel sorry fro Brandt and DKD. They seem to be good, hard, honest players but I don't think the PER environment is great for them to develop. Hire and Wagstaff only know dirty and Gleeson is a flog.

"CNS did excellent in the last few minutes and deserved to win."

Cairns' last 2:30 - 0/3 field goals, 0/1 free throw, four turnovers and allowed Perth to score 10 points on 4/5 shooting, with their two turnovers on questionable calls.

I hate to seem the Taipans when they play bad in the final minutes Wilson!

Wilson, failing to inbound the ball within the required 5 seconds is NOT controlling the ball well. Cairns were completely out of control. I dislike Perth as much as the next guy, but they just played pretty tight defence those last couple of minutes and Cairns kept throwing it away.

Yes, the Wildcats got away with a few fouls with their full-court pressure (last night was reffed very different to most games the past two months) but you've got to be able to play through a bit of contact without just burping the ball up.

paul, you missed my caveat "They actually controlled the ball quite well given the amount of fouling PER were (as usual) getting away with on the ball handler."

xy, I agree the 5 second call was not good enough, but from my vantage point PER were clearly fouling the ball handler with their pressure D in the last few minutes. I actually thought they were deliberately fouling to start sending CNS to the FT line but the refs weren't calling any of it.

Anon, 0 points and 1 assist with 2 TO is a liability on offence.

Corban Wroe is a liability

Wilson Stink displaying his great knowledge of the game. Should just post "I hate Perf" and shut up so not to look such a fool.

"paul, you missed my caveat."

No, I didn't, you have to be able to play through contact without burping the ball up on more than half your possessions.

Best team on the night won. End of story!
Suck it up furballs!

I picture I took at the game last night of Joe Blake holding out a giant novelty baby's dummy to Trevor Gleeson after the wildcats came out of a timeout in q4 is now my screensaver at work.

This thread is magnificent.

weigh averaging 8 nbl ppg and gets 19..
... you didn't know it...
you didn't think it could be done
but in the final end.. he won the game....

Cats are going through the motions right now, probably as result of so much success lately.

Expect them to sneak into the 4 and then turn it on properly come playoff time.