How to watch & talking points: Cairns v Perth (Round 6, NBL26)

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

cairns taipans

perth wildcats

Both the Cairns Taipans and Perth Wildcats are desperate for a win in Wednesday's Ignite Cup fixture.

Cairns Taipans v Perth Wildcats
Wednesday, October 22, 7.30pm AEDT
Cairns Convention Centre

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Talking points

Next man up
No Dylan Windler for the Wildcats, who are still looking for a replacement for Mason Jones. It gives the chance for Jaron Rillie to build on his career-high from Sunday's loss as well as Ben Henshall to find some form.

With that being said, it's still all on Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. and Kristian Doolittle to lead this team back to a win.

Redemption
The Taipans lost a heartbreaker to Perth just two weeks ago on their home floor, and now they get a chance to get one back.

With both teams missing some key players, this will come down to who is hungrier and more desperate for a win

What they're saying

Taipans big man Marcus Lee:
‍“The successful teams I’ve been on (Tasmania, Melbourne) stick to their systems.

"They don’t panic, they don’t change up. That’s what Fordey’s building here and that’s what makes me excited."

Wildcats coach John Rillie:
‍“The way our roster is right now, we’re leaning on guys. They’re getting opportunities. We will get better from this. Our team will get better but we had our feet to the fire against some really good players today.

“It’s been an emotional week for us but the disappointing thing for me is you saw youth and experience in this league.

"Experience goes a long way. We talked about Davis and Delly and Bul (Kuol) and the physicality they would come with – we just didn’t match that.”