Cotton Ready, Thomas Likely

Bryce Cotton will play on Thursday night against the South East Melbourne Phoenix, Perth coach John Rillie has confirmed.

Cotton wasn't at the league's MVP Awards on Tuesday night, where he was named as a member of the All-NBL team, but is set to take his place in the Play-In Qualifier at John Cain Arena.

"Bryce will be playing tomorrow and I've got him logged in 40 minutes," Rillie told the media.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Don’t fret Red Army, Bryce has joined his teammates in Melbourne and will suit up for tomorrow&#39;s game. ?<br><br>Full presser: <a href="https://t.co/DQnYq4PDOU">https://t.co/DQnYq4PDOU</a> <a href="https://t.co/K2O0sN9ieS">pic.twitter.com/K2O0sN9ieS</a></p>&mdash; Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1623221415788044288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Earlier this week, TaShawn Thomas declared he'd be ready to play, in a chat with NBL Media, despite a knee injury sustained in the win over Perth. 

Rillie wasn't quite as confident, but backed his star import to get on the court. 

"He's (Thomas) progressing nicely, still in that day-to-day status as far as ... will be 100 per cent? Probably not. But should he manage to play some minutes, he'll play a role absolutely," Rillie said. 

".... soreness, stiffness. We've been managing him and he's been getting medical treatment. He's been progressing really nicely over the last couple of days. Hopefully he will participate in some practice today, so that's very encouraging for me." 

The Wildcats take on the Phoenix at 6.30pm AEDT on Thursday night.