Rillie responds to Roth Cotton call

Perth head coach John Rillie has fired back at Scott Roth’s assertions that Bryce Cotton is refereed differently to the rest of the NBL, and says “numbers can be manipulated” ahead of Game 1 of the Playoff Series between the Wildcats and JackJumpers.

Roth said Cotton is “difficult to deal with when you can’t touch him” during an interview with SEN on Wednesday, and went on to discuss how his team needs to be more disciplined in fouling.

He also argued that the fact Cotton has shot more free throws than his guard duo of Milton Doyle and Jordon Crawford combined shows Cotton earns incidental calls his players haven’t this season.

Rillie says this is the perfect stage for his side to prove the “experts” wrong about the tie.

“That’s the beauty of numbers, you can manipulate them to however you want,” Rillie said.

“I would say I’m under the microscope because it seems like I play Bryce the most minutes in the world, so for him to get to the free throw line the most – to also go on to I run every play for Bryce – so he’s going to get that.

“You can talk about the numbers however you want. I know he has his way, I’m obviously predict my way. The other thing, you listen to the experts, Milton Doyle MVP candidate, Jordon Crawford MVP candidate, Jack McVeigh All-NBL, Will Magnay, All-World right now. It’s Bryce and the heartbeats out there trying to make it happen. We’ll go out there, we’ll play him, and we’ll see what happens.

“This is the greatest stage to make a statement. I listen to these guys, these ‘experts’, and it’s like a rec league team playing the All-Stars. It’s a great stage for us to go out there and prove who we are and what we’re about.”

The Wildcats have had almost three weeks to prepare for the opening game of this Playoff Series, and have known they will face Tasmania since the JackJumpers’ Seeding Qualifier win over Illawarra last week.

The Wildcats won the opening two regular season games against Tasmania by six and one-point respectively, however the JackJumpers won their Round 20 clash in which Cotton was sidelined.

Rillie has called on his players to remain smart in order to defeat the JackJumpers once again.

“They’re a formidable outfit,” he said.

“They’re playing well at this time of year, and if I believe all the media experts, they’ve got this great team. We’ve been preparing to play a great team that has great success, and we’ll have to see if we’re ready.

"The key to beating them is being smart in your approach. They prey on your mistakes. We need to be disciplined and smart with our approach. Over the last week the way we’ve dialed into our game plan has been very good.

“Our guys have a nice edge, we could go out tomorrow and lay an egg but we’re ready to step up and take the challenge.

“We’re at the pointy end of the season and there’s going to be a winner and a loser but I like the guys I go to battle with.”

Game 1 of the Playoff Series between Perth and Tasmania will tip off at 9:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach and 10 Play.