Perth Vows to Gets Physical

Friday, June 9, 2023

Perth head coach John Rillie has revealed the type of player he’s targeting for the Wildcats’ final few roster spots

Perth head coach John Rillie has revealed the type of player he’s targeting for the Wildcats’ final few roster spots, and says he wants to shore up some of the club’s weaknesses from last season.

The Wildcats have been active in acquiring new talent over the course of the off-season so far. Star signing Keanu Pinder has been joined on the roster by fellow incoming talents Hyrum Harris, David Okwera, Ben Henshall and Next Star Alex Sarr.

Corey and Tai Webster, Michael Harris and Jesse Wagstaff have all also extended their contracts at the club.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Exclusive?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Exclusive</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a> coach <a href="https://twitter.com/johnrillie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@johnrillie</a> has confirmed Jesse Wagstaff will continue to be captain of the club. <a href="https://twitter.com/ashnelson08?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ashnelson08</a> got his thoughts on the club's new roster | <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Basketball?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Basketball</a> <a href="https://t.co/Uf0SGWqazI">pic.twitter.com/Uf0SGWqazI</a></p>— 10 News First Perth (@10NewsFirstPER) <a href="https://twitter.com/10NewsFirstPER/status/1666387327151685633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Wildcats ranked bottom of the league in rebounds per game across the entire NBL23 season, and pulled in an average of just 36 boards per contest.

Rillie has earmarked presence on the glass as a key metric when considering incoming players ahead of NBL24.

“Physically on the defensive end – rebounding – we need to shore that up to a degree,” Rillie told 10 News. “I think myself and Danny (Mills) have done a good job over the off-season recalibrating the roster for the present and future.

“We’ve been very lucky to attract some of the local WA boys back home and now we’ve just got to finish it off – probably more likely with a couple of imports as well.

“In a perfect world we’d like to add marquee players, because history shows when you have the best local talent you have a very good chance of winning the championship.”

Should Perth be successful in attracting the calibre of marquee talent it desires and does win another championship, recently re-signed veteran forward Jesse Wagstaff would become the most successful player in the history of the competition.

The 37-year-old has played his entire NBL career with the club and has won six championships in his 14 seasons.

Wagstaff has held the title of captain since the retirement of club legend Damian Martin, and Rillie says he will continue to hold it until – at the very least – the end of the upcoming season.

“He’s the captain,” Rillie said of the 446-gamer. “Moving forward would we like to groom some other people? For sure, but we know the veteran presence he brings every day.

“It’s going to be hard to make a shift in that, that’s for sure.”

Rillie and the Wildcats will open their NBL24 campaign on Friday, September 29 against Tasmania.