Wildcats prepared for "desperate" Adelaide

Saturday, October 7, 2023

The Adelaide 36ers may be entering Friday's clash with Perth with an 0-2 record, but Jesse Wagstaff is under no illusions about the challenge his Wildcats will face.

Perth captain Jesse Wagstaff is under no illusions of the challenge the Adelaide 36ers will present his side on Friday night, despite their difficult 0-2 start to the season.

The 36ers will travel to Perth off the back of a pair of opening Round 1 defeats to Brisbane and Melbourne.

They fell against Brisbane despite leading by as many as 15 points in the first quarter before losing to Melbourne due to a final quarter collapse, in a pair of games import Trey Kell has since labelled as winnable.

“They’re going to be desperate,” Wagstaff said. “They’re going to be desperate for their first win, we played them in the Blitz and I don’t think that was a true representation of where they’re at or who they are.

“They went down to the wire against Melbourne – Melbourne is obviously a high-quality team, we’re expecting a high quality team.”

Perth endured an inconsistent start to the season in Round 1, where they followed a high-scoring win against Tasmania with a dour offensive performance against South East Melbourne.

Jordan Usher exploded for 35 points on his Wildcats debut in that 15-point win against the JackJumpers, before Perth trailed by as many as 30 points in its 11-point loss to South East Melbourne.

“It was obviously a slow start on Friday. We did well to pick it back up, and it’s always good to get the first win of the season – especially at home,” Wagstaff said.

“The second game – obviously the third quarter wasn’t great. We had some really good opportunities in the first half to extend our lead and didn’t.”

The Wildcats will take to the floor against Adelaide wearing pink uniforms for their annual Pink Game to support Breast Cancer Awareness WA.

It will mark the seventh time the club has played the themed round, and Wagstaff nailed home the continued importance of the fixture.

“Time flies and that’s huge, you talk about not just the money raised but the awareness as well – everyone knows someone that’s been affected by it and to have six of these games under our belt is huge for the WA community,” he said.

The Wildcats’ players uniforms worn against Adelaide will be auctioned off at the end of the game here.