He certainly is not the worst coach of the Wildcats. Take away the 5 game losing streak and 2 bizarre overtime loses to the Bullets, the Wildcats are still OK, despite their struggles.

They might miss the playeoffs again this year, but you gotta factor in the evenness of the competition and that pretty much every team bar Illawarra and the underperforming Bullets and United have improved and raised the standard up.

The real issue is the Cats GM - I think Danny Mills needs to be looked at being replaced.

Mike Ellis, the Cats went 15-18 his one season as coach.

I think Rillie has done ok, next season is the big test. Webster brothers and Cotton is a fine start, filling in the pieces could be hard. Norton still trying and ok off bench, Blanchfield, who knows, is he injured, badly out form, just taking his pay packet. Thomas worth keeping, a solid defender and scorer at the four that rebounds is required, they are out there but cost big money. I'd say Travers will still be around, some nice pieces, fill the gaps.

Thread title should be "Is Danny Mills the worst Wildcats GM ever/Is SEG the worst owner?"

Look at Cairns, they have a budget roster compared to the Cats , missing Pinder and they are still winning games. Ford is a decent coach for what he has. Ford has taken a team of mostly 1st year imports and rookies to top 4 , we have MVP and league leading scoring and are sitting outside of the 6.

So yes Danny Mills has not recruited well. not cleaned out the poor performers from last season and again allowed a un-optimal import mix to go through to the end of the season, but Gleeson had less stacked rosters in years where competition had more talent but still got the job done.

There is a fair bit of wiggle room between not being the best ever and being the worst ever.

"Gleeson had less stacked rosters in years where competition had more talent but still got the job done."

The year before Gleeson, Perth went 22-6. His first five seasons were 21-7, 16-12, 18-10, 15-13, 16-12. He deservedly goes down as a Wildcats great, but let's not pretend it was all dominance under him and any coach who doesn't get 20 wins is a failure.

Let's not pretend he had a roster as ordinary as this one either

Are Perth spending as much as previously, hard to blame all on Mills when no one really knows the circumstances. Deservedly Cotton on big money but limits spend elsewhere and getting budget Australian players isn't that easy to fill the holes. Gleeson never really brought on young players, he went with what Bevo left him and picked his imports.

And lets not pretend he won 5 championships during that time, the second most for a coach in NBL history. The Gleeson era was the definition of dominance.

Gleeson never really brought on young players

Dech and Buluk had to leave to get decent time. Travers I'll give you.

That's right they did, who developed them and brought them on? Gleeson.

Ok even so, three out of all those seasons not many.

Well that's because he was busy winning championships for fun. Five titles from six GF's in 8 seasons fair effort that, doesn't exactly leave much time for blooding youth.

Connor Henry was terrible. Mike Ellis was not great either. Morrison gets a bad wrap. Had vic law not got injured Perth would have made the playoffs.

The jury is out on JR

Agree Zodiac,
It's just hard to then rip in to new owners and all when the cupboard has been left empty. It takes time to get back to the top. You also got spend as per most sides now.

Oh I agree it's easy for Perth fans to rip into the new owners because they're out of towners and them buying the team from the Ramsay family has coincided with the downturn of their championship era. If Gleeson had never left for the NBA the results wouldn't have changed much.

Lyn Massey went 3-20 in 1984.
Thats the worst coaching record for the Pussycats.

"The Gleeson era was the definition of dominance."

Having a 75-54 record after five years isn't dominance. As I said, he deservedly goes down as a Wildcats great for his achievements, but there were ups and downs under him, including three of Perth's 10 worst records in the past 30 years in his first five seasons.

It's not about wins and losses, it’s about playing in GF and more importantly winning them. Gleeson got that record.

No one's disputing he won grand finals or that he is a great of the Wildcats. There are some people disputing the clear facts that Perth had their struggles at times across his first five seasons.

Sorry bud it's not about wins and losses during the regular season it's only about championships and the Gleeson era was the most dominant in NBL history.

It's true that Gleeson dominated and the Bendat family bailed but that is no excuse to let standards drop.

SEG are not up to it as owners and are penny pinching due to be a listed entity (LOL) and worst of all they hired someone who is not qualified for the role of GM.

being*

Lets not forget Gleeson had many overseas contacts and had the ability to bring great imports here. Not so much some of the 'third' imports. I wonder how much input Rillie and Morrison actually had in recruiting being only their first seasons. Mills has to shoulder more of the blame and SEG for putting him there.

"Sorry bud it's not about wins and losses during the regular season it's only about championships and the Gleeson era was the most dominant in NBL history."

Don't be sorry, what you say doesn't change the fact Gleeson had three of Perth's 10 worst records in the past three decades in his first five years.

The standard Morrison and Rillie are being held to is unrealistic in comparison.

JR is a hold over until Gleeson comes back in the next year or too. Gleeson still has his whole family living in Perth, so it was never going to be for a long time- he will be back sooner than later.

If you were Gleeson would you honestly want to come back? His legacy is secure, he'll be well-rewarded coaching anywhere in the country or overseas. Does he really want to return and work with these muppets? I doubt it.

Nailed it - SEG is going to cause Gleeson to look elsewhere on his return to Australia. Morons.

Some of y'all weren't around for the Daigle/Ellis/Massey/Brehmer era and it shows.

My 2 cents worth on the Wildcats...

Focusing on the coach ignores the other moving parts.

Ownership: whether we like it or not, the owner is a listed entity with a range of interests that financially dwarf the investment in the Wildcats. Management of SEG should rightly be focused largely on those other assets. Their key role at the Wildcats should be to provide adequate working capital and appoint a CEO to run the organisation. That they still don't have a CEO is a major failing. My view is that the CEO does not need to have specific basketball experience but does need to be local. They need to understand the Perth market, run the business and be able to hold other management to account (who is currently asking Mills the tough questions in a day to day basis?)

Management: at the moment I think management is failing. That may be because of a lack of experience, oversight or direction, or the fact that no coach has been in place while recruiting decisions have been made in the last two seasons. A CEO would be looking at these management failings and making sure the pieces are in place for the same to not happen next season. The disconnect with the fans also comes down to not having a strong local CEO in place to be the ears and voice of the organisation.

Coach: I think it is too early to say whether Rillie is a good coach or not. He has been handed a roster which is the result of a poor job by management. Hopefully next year he gets input and has a roster he owns and can then be judged on.

So the most critical thing the owners can do is appoint a CEO before season end so that person can be involved in the season review and hold management to account in building next years team. (I hope management’s top priority at the moment is developing a strategy to exit contracted players who are not up to it.) With a strong local CEO in place (who can also lobby for a better schedule) holding a tight rein on management, hopefully between them and the coach they can get a competitive team on the court next year. Then we can judge Rillie.

Good post, JK

"He certainly is not the worst coach of the Wildcats. Take away the 5 game losing streak and 2 bizarre overtime loses to the Bullets, the Wildcats are still OK, despite their struggles."

Lol, take out 7 of their losses and they're doing ok

Yes. Starting both Webster brothers showed a panic & lack of repect for his other guards. Did he really think that was gonna work?

Absolute amatuer!!

Some of y'all weren't around for the Daigle/Ellis/Massey/Brehmer era and it shows.

Nothing wrong with starting T. Webster IMO, given that Travers was out.

We were playing fine at the start of the game. Actually we were leading at the point where Norton came in for Webster.
Any "lack of respect" for our other guards is entirely warranted this season. They are horribly out of form.

That they still don't have a CEO is a major failing.

Lol, take out 7 of their losses and they're doing ok

Two seasons in a row they've put together rosters that aren't good at rebounding or defending. As a result they've been mid-table both seasons. Until they fix those weaknesses they will likely stay there.

Back then it was an expansion team which was financially hamstrung by not being privately owned and essentially run like a state rep side in a national league.

With regards the "lack of respect", at qtr time in the Sydney game, Norton had been on the court for 1min58sec and was -10. The mistake was bringing him on at all.

On that, I cannot understand why Zunic has not been given more minutes to see what he can do...he surely couldn't be any worse.

Is it true Danny Mills had the choice of tashawn Thomas and Alan Williams?

If true he picked the right player, Williams is a foul walking.

"He certainly is not the worst coach of the Wildcats. Take away the 5 game losing streak and 2 bizarre overtime loses to the Bullets, the Wildcats are still OK, despite their struggles."

Lol, take out 7 of their losses and they're doing ok"


Fair enough,paid!

That doesn't magically make those coaches any better.

"Is John Rillie the worst Wildcats coach of the professional era" is enough of an overreaction frankly, but worst ever? Laughable.

I still can't believe SEG was the best option of all that Bendat could sell to, I think I'd have taken ex NBA players ala Josh Childress types owning the Wildcats and trying to implement their own vision on things than SEG that seem to be only using the team as an asset, one that is fast diminishing compared to Bendat era

Ex nba players are not doing that great at SEM, haven't Brisbane got ex nba owners as well. What about Illawarra, owner there for two seasons and then takes off with all his mates.

Owners don’t grow on trees.

Believe it or not there were prospective buyers worse than SEG sniffing around. It's a scary thought.

Greg Hire