Norton speaks ahead of Perth return

Friday, October 27, 2023

"Honesty is a big part of it. And I think, I eventually got it in the end, which was nice."

Former Wildcats mainstays Mitch Norton and Todd Blanchfield have opened up about their departures from the club this past off-season.

Both players were contracted to the side, however Perth elected to remove the pair from its roster ahead of NBL24. Norton ended up signing with the Brisbane Bullets while Blanchfield returned to Illawarra.

Norton expressed his frustration at what he perceived to be a consistent lack of honesty throughout the process from his former organisation.

“Honesty is a big part of it. I think I eventually got it in the end, which was nice. It would have been good to have that from the start,” Norton said on The West Australian's The Dribble Podcast.

<iframe src="https://omny.fm/shows/the-dribble/former-perth-wildcats-stars-mitch-norton-and-todd/embed" width="100%" height="180" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write" frameborder="0" title="Former Perth Wildcats stars Mitch Norton and Todd Blanchfield"></iframe>

Blanchfield played for the Gold Coast Rollers in NBL1 North during the off-season, and said he wouldn't change what he's experienced as a professional player over the past 15 years.

“It’s 13 cities in 10 years. I wouldn’t change anything from that," Blanchfield said.

"Every day, I get to wake up and play basketball for a living. To be able to do it for as long as I have, I’m extremely thankful and grateful that it’s worked out."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Working for the (double header) weekend ?<br><br>?<a href="https://t.co/t5kagCTaqI">https://t.co/t5kagCTaqI</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIVERCITYSTRONG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIVERCITYSTRONG</a> <a href="https://t.co/ct3mMachix">pic.twitter.com/ct3mMachix</a></p>— Brisbane Bullets (@BrisbaneBullets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets/status/1716721547887657004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Norton will return to RAC Arena on Friday night when the Bullets take on the Wildcats.

“It’s going to be really weird to walk back in there in a different uniform," he said of the impending return.

"It gives me goosebumps.”

The Wildcats will host the Bullets on Friday night at 9:30pm AEDT. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN via Kayo Sports.