Rillie throws support behind embattled 36ers

Monday, October 9, 2023

Perth head coach John Rillie has thrown his support behind CJ Bruton and Adelaide despite the team's 0-4 start.

Perth head coach John Rillie has thrown his support behind his Adelaide counterpart, CJ Bruton, following the 36ers’ disappointing start to the season.

Rillie’s Wildcats defeated Brutons 36ers by seven points in Friday night, before Adelaide lost again against Sydney on Sunday – this time by nine.

The 0-4 start is the first time Adelaide has started a season so poorly since the 2002-2003 season, but on that occasion the 36ers rebounded to finish the season in fifth place with a 16-14 record.

“People are on CJ’s back,” Rillie said following Friday’s win. “Man, he’s doing a great job with his roster.

“Did anyone watch last week’s game against Melbourne who are the title favourites? Took them down to the wire in the last five minutes.

“They came out against Brisbane – and Brisbane’s playing good basketball.

“Those guys are playing fearless. To win in this league you need to perform for 40 minutes, we did a great job of finding a way to win this game.”

Only one of Adelaide’s losses this season has come in double-digits when it lost to Brisbane in Round 1, despite opening the game with a 15-0 run.

Since then the 36ers have lost by eight, seven and nine points in the resulting three games, and this week face both Illawarra and South East Melbourne at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Bruton believes his side will pull together a full four-quarter performance sooner rather than later.

“We’ve had our moments throughout the first four games so far, we couldn’t sustain it for 40 minutes,” Bruton said after Adelaide’s loss to Sydney.

“It’s where we’re trying to get to, but we had some really good patches there.

“Obviously, the fightback within this group is real. We’ve got a dog in us. We just need to keep finding that balance in between and finding that momentum as we move.”

Bruton added Adelaide is hoping to announce a new import soon.

“I hope we get something done this week. As an organisation we’ll sit down and talk and get something done this week.

“You guys can plaster it on the NBL site and across the world, and we can move forward.”