Hutchison: Perth primed for Wild rise

Perth majority owner Craig Hutchison has called for calm among the Wildcats’ fanbase, comparing the club’s current plight to that of the NBL22 champion Sydney Kings. 

The Wildcats currently sit eighth on the ladder after a 2-5 start to the season under John Rillie. The champion Kings of two seasons ago, conversely, started the season 3-6, under first-year head coach Chase Buford.

Hutchison publicly backed embattled coach John Rillie following Perth’s Round 5 loss to Brisbane, and NBL legend Derek Rucker called for a sharing of the blame through the Wildcats organisation for the perceived underachievement.

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“There is a lot of time on our hands, there are 21 games to go and it’s early into a new team that is finding its cohesion,” Hutchison said on The Sounding Board.

“If you look back to the Sydney Kings, their first premiership two or three years ago, they started 3-6 with a similarly talented roster who took some time to find their chemistry.

“That doesn’t excuse the losses, and clearly I’m frustrated and everybody is frustrated, but we believe in this team and we believe in this coach and coaching group.

“We think we’ve got an amazing club with an amazing opportunity. We’re not going to win every game every week – we’d like to – if we were playing like this at the end of the season, we’d be disappointed. It’s early in the season, we need to keep a little bit of context.”

Wildcats fans have been vocal in their displeasure at the team's performances, and reportedly booed the side during a first quarter timeout when Perth was on the wrong side of a 17-3 margin against the Bullets.

Perth legend Damian Martin was at the game with NBL Media, and previously stated on SEN the atmosphere was as “flat” as he’d ever seen it.

Hutchison has praised the passion of the Red Army through the difficult start to the campaign, and says he’s aware of the general vibe directed at the club.

“The feedback has been robust and pretty blunt and that’s the right of the fans ... I’ve read every single bit of correspondence,” he said.

“Sport’s a passionate thing, we’re in the business of passion and the Red Army and fanbase are passionate about their club and that is a way, way better scenario than people being ambivalent about their team.

“With that there’s a core of fans who are really frustrated. I accept that, take responsibility for it and we will get through this and get better and we will be there at the back end of the year in my opinion. when the whips are cracking.”

Perth will host the Adelaide 36ers before travelling to Melbourne to take on United in Round 6.