Rillie Welcomes Legend's Influence

Friday, September 2, 2022

Perth Wildcats head coach John Rillie has lauded the impact the presence of club legends has on his team.

By Dan Woods - NBL Media
Photo - Perth Wildcats Media

Perth head coach John Rillie has lauded the impact the presence of club legends has on his team, after NBL legend Ricky Grace attended the Wildcats' training session on Thursday.

Grace spent 15 seasons in an award-laden stint at the Wildcats. He finished his time at the organisation with four NBL titles, two finals' MVP trophies and a place in the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame.

He's also one of just six players to have had his jersey retired by the organisation. His number 15 now hangs proudly in the rafters of RAC Arena.

Grace is not the only former club champion to attend a recent Wildcats training session, with two-time champion and former NBL MVP Paul Rogers stopping by with his Denmark Senior HIgh School basketball squad.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Perth Wildcats royalty in the building! ?<br><br>Ricky ‘Amazing’ Grace stopped by training today to see how the squad is shaping up ahead of NBL23. <a href="https://t.co/nLyzNjNTSM">pic.twitter.com/nLyzNjNTSM</a></p>— Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1565216198937444352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“Any time you get to have club MVPs, NBL MVPs, Wildcat legends, it’s great to have them at practice just [for] the presence they bring” Rillie said.

“He (Grace) is a pretty good one to be impressing and compared to. He’s one of the NBL greats, let alone Wildcats.

“When you bring former guys around it does bring a different edge to the group.

“In my time as head coach here I want to make sure those former players and coaches are welcome around our program at any time.”

The newest member of Perth’s playing group, development player Jack Andrew, is one who’s been impressing the Wildcats coaching staff in his short time at the club.

The 208-centimere centre is coming off of a title run with the Otago Nuggets in the NZNBL and will look to build his game, while offering support to veteran talls Majok Majok and TaShawn Thomas, as well as first-year pro Brady Manek.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Welcome to the Cats, Jack! ?<br><br>The Perth Wildcats are excited to announce the signing of NZNBL champion Jack Andrew as a development player for the next two years. <br><br>Full details: <a href="https://t.co/B4CqwA5EXg">https://t.co/B4CqwA5EXg</a> <a href="https://t.co/29k8KrCA9N">pic.twitter.com/29k8KrCA9N</a></p>— Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1565142494299316224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“The thing I like most is [Andrew’s] athleticism - he’s a point of difference with what we have on our roster. He’s still a long way away from where he can become in the game, but he’s an exciting prospect,” Rillie said of the development player.

“When you look at our roster at the top end we’ve got a lot of experience. As those guys move on with their careers you need new stock ready to rock and roll and I think that's what the Wildcats have done.

“We’re trying to find untapped potential within our own country and New Zealand and develop those guys while being around those great veteran leaders.”

With the arrival of Andrew and Bryce Cotton into training camp and the return of Luke Travers, Todd Blanchfield and Mitch Norton from Boomers duty, the Wildcats have a full complement of players at their disposal for the first time this pre-season.

They kick their pre-season fixtures off with two games against Adelaide next week, before heading to Darwin for NBL Blitz.

“It’s going to be great to play some games so we really know where we’re at, there’s a little element where we’re used to playing each other so it’ll be really great to play Adelaide and see where we’re really at as a team,” Rillie said.

“We’re finally all together, so we can move forward. We’ve been chipping away at it for over a month now. We just want to keep building.”