Injury-hit Wildcats focus on toning down NBL emotions

injury-hit wildcats focus on toning down nbl emotions

Bryce Cotton is an injury concern for the Perth Wildcats after taking a knock against the Hawks.

A late injury scare to MVP favourite Bryce Cotton has topped a horror night for the Perth Wildcats as the Illawarra Hawks NBL fairytale continues.

Coach John Rillie had nothing to do with injuries suffered to his key pair Kristian Doolittle and Bryce Cotton as the Hawks overran them 108-92 at WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong on Thursday to start the last round of the NBL season.

However, it was a ‘Cats team increasingly lacking focus and control of their emotions as the game wore on – and Rillie certainly does take responsibility for that.

Emotions almost spilled over, especially when there was no call made on a backcourt screen set on Doolittle.

The Perth forward ran backwards into Sam Froling, with the Hawks centre standing his ground perfectly legally, but the end result was a shoulder injury that could have a huge impact on the Wildcats finals prospects.

There was also a no call on halftime that saw Perth young gun Ben Henshall fall heavily after having his dunk blocked by Illawarra’s Davo Hickey. Again though, it looked perfectly clean from Hickey.

Coupled with the Hawks winning the rebound count 57 to 35, and taking 35 free-throws to 26, Rillie’s frustrations spilled over.

It was nearly a total disaster for a Perth team, who are guaranteed second place no matter what happens in Tasmania on Saturday, once Cotton hurt a knee in the fourth quarter too.

Cotton, a lock to win his fourth MVP award, is doubtful for Saturday against the JackJumpers.

“He’ll (Doolittle) just get some X-rays here and then we’ll see where it goes from here,” Rillie said.

“It was knee to knee contact (for Cotton) and it’s just one of those deals with how does he pull up after playing tonight.”

In the bigger picture, keeping their emotions in check will become a key focus for the Wildcats come finals time.

“Tonight, I got too emotionally invested in the game when it was a really good game,” Rillie said.

“We have to go out and play a good style of basketball, respect ourselves with the way we approach and usually good things happen that way.”

There are far fewer problems with the Hawks. They are now 12-6 since Justin Tatum replaced Jacob Jackomas as coach to be guaranteed of playing Finals.

Tatum isn’t content, though, and is focused on beating regular season champions Melbourne United on Sunday to lock in a top-four finish.

“We know that we’ve solidified ourselves a playoff spot, but our goal is to finish off with a winning season (currently 14-13),” he said.

“We want to win that game against Melbourne because we want to finish with a winning season record so that’s our finishing goal for the regular season.”

News Related

OTHER NEWS

Disrupt Burrup protesters searched and phones seized

Disrupt Burrup Hub group say police have issued move-on notices prohibiting access to the WA site. A group of climate activists and filmmakers say their phones have been seized during ... Read more »

The generation driving a ‘megatrend’ of poor mental health in Australia

As individuals, we have unique experiences that affect our mental health and wellbeing, but what about the collective experiences that influence each generation? The mental health of Australians has been ... Read more »

Geraldton meatworks set to reopen after five years in bid to meet chilled meat demand from Asia, Middle East

Syed Ghazaly wants to see the Geraldton abattoir reopen early next year to process 1,000 sheep a day. (ABC Mid West Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis) The new owners of a mothballed ... Read more »

Blues seek ‘growth’ as pre-season begins; new Hawk aims to be AFL’s serial pest

Carlton coach Michael Voss says he and his players understand there are heightened expectations on them, but insists the Blues are ready to develop individually and in their game plan. ... Read more »

Bulldogs continue signing frenzy with swap deal

The Bulldogs’ off-season signing frenzy is set to continue with the club reportedly set to land Cronnor Tracey in a swap deal. The Sydney Morning Herald reports Tracey is expected ... Read more »

Customers to weigh in as Optus disruption comes under microscope

Consumers and impacted businesses are being urged to have their say on the Optus outage, with the federal government laying out the terms of reference for its review into the ... Read more »

Released detainee unable to be contacted by authorities

It has been revealed a released immigration detainee is unable to be contacted by authorities. Border Force has referred the matter to the Federal Police as authorities are attempting to ... Read more »
Top List in the World