Rillie speaks after wild week

Sunday, November 5, 2023

"We’ve got to find a way to win a game."

Perth Wildcats coach John Rillie is appreciative of a supportive phone call from club owner Craig Hutchison, and says he won’t swing wholesale changes, ahead of a must-win clash against the Adelaide 36ers on Saturday night.

It has been a wild week out west, with frustration at boiling point amongst the Red Army with the Wildcats sitting at 2-5. It forced Hutchison to publicly back Rillie as coach on Monday, with that conversation also happening between the two men.

“Any time you hear from your boss, it’s always good. Even when you’re screwing up, because if you’re screwing up you can get on the right path and move forward to be better. It certainly helps,” Rillie said via The West Australian.

Several NBL experts, including Wildcat legends, have had their say on what Perth needs to do to turn its season around.

Fans have been heavily vocal, with reports of booing during last week’s loss to Brisbane and at a post-game members function, while the online dialogue amongst the supporters has been mostly negative.

The club also had to address comments made by Bryce Cotton’s wife, Rachel, which criticised Rillie’s system.

It has culminated into a week of turmoil for the NBL’s most successful club, but Rillie has backed his troops ahead of the clash with Adelaide.

“I’m not about making wholesale changes or flipping the script, because when you have players that are successful for a long period of time, it is there. It’s valid,” Rillie said.

“Everyone has to be in a fight type of mentality. No one is happy with the way they’re playing.

“My job is to try to harness, embrace and bring the ultimate confidence with our group so we get to that.”

Cotton has been central to the club’s struggles, with the three-time MVP averaging just 14.4 points on 29.4% shooting.

Import Jordan Usher has seen a dip in production over recent games, with other rotational players also not firing to their full potential.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“The roster constructed isn’t great in my opinion.”<br><br>Former NBL MVP Andrew Bogut says Perth doesn't have the right mix around their star man Bryce Cotton ?<br><br>Full story ??<a href="https://t.co/CqRBGo3KQN">https://t.co/CqRBGo3KQN</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1719897310988263517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Rillie revealed a focus at training this week has been identifying ways to get his best players performing at their best.

“You need your best players playing well. You don’t look to the janitor to fix your business up,” he said.

“We’ve got to get our best players playing at a high level. Our practices this week, we’ve been putting different combination to try to get a rhythm.”

As for the mindset ahead of Saturday’s game against the 36ers? According to the coach, it’s simple.

“We’ve got to find a way to win a game,” Rillie said.

Perth and Adelaide clash at RAC Arena on Saturday night at 8pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo Sports.