Thunder Wrap and Rangers Review

The Perth Wheelcats continued their 2010 campaign in Adelaide this weekend against the Adelaide Thunder picking up two convincing wins! The Wheelcats ventured out of the cage without captain Justin Eveson and fellow Roller Michael Hartnett, but Shaun Norris led a very strong group across the border to take on the Thunder at Pasadena and Wayville. Game 1 saw the Wheelcats victorious winning by a margin of 92 (127-35), more impressive than the continuous offensive scoring efforts was the Wheelcats ability to nail it down in defence. This is an aspect that the Cats need to focus on over the next month as they take on some really strong teams that pose great offensive threats, the Wheelcats picked up 12 steals from the game and forced 31 turnovers from the Thunder where the Cats were quick to punish in a very quick transition!

The Perth Wheelcats played an up tempo selfless style of offence that saw them record an impressive 40 assists, Shaun Norris was the stand out in game 1 picking up 35 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Nick Radovich also picked up his first triple double in his NWBL career with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, other great efforts saw Brant Garvey with 21 points and 12 rebounds and Adam Deans and Robert Pike with 26 and 16 points respectively! Kim Robins was instrumental with his defensive intensity and Chris Barty provided the Cats with the presence of being a 3rd big man on the floor. Nang Nguyen and Clare Burzynski must be credited with their efforts at both ends of the floor not only helping get our tall timber in the paint but also playing above their class and helping to defend the Thunder’s high point players!

The Wheelcats backed up their impressive performance from Saturday night by delivering a 107 point win at Wayville on Sunday morning, the 129-22 score line proves to many teams out there that the Wheelcats can travel well and be successful in multiple games away from home. The defensive display shown by the Wheelcats was even more impressive than the previous night keeping the opposition to just 5 points in the 1st half, the 3rd quarter saw the Thunder put on 12 points before the Cats sunk their claws in and kept them to 2 points in the 4th. Head Coach Lee Nott knows that in the future the Wheelcats have to be ready to play 48 minutes of intense defence to keep the opposition under control. Offensively the Wheelcats managed to keep an even flow of scoring throughout the game which saw everyone get a decent amount of minutes. No one picked up a triple double this game, the rebounding and assist effort was evenly spread amongst the Wheelcats. Shaun Norris picked up a healthy 40 points and 1 rebound and 1 assist shy of another triple double, Adam Deans, Robert Pike and Nick Radovich picked up 20, 18 and 15 respectively. Kim Robins pushed the ball well in transition and setting up some great offence with 14 points and 7 assists, however down the other end of the floor Robins was impressive once again with his defensive intensity and talk when coupled with Adam Deans or Clare Burzynski.

The Perth Wheelcats successfully completed their defensive target keeping Adelaide to 57 points for the entire weekend, as well as achieving what they wanted to get done in offence. Big man Adam Deans shot at 77% for the weekend proving he is a force to be reckoned with inside the paint, Shaun Norris picked up 75 points over the weekend shooting the ball at an impressive 72%!

After a successful start to the NWBL season against the Kings and Thunder the Perth Wheelcats are looking to continue this success against the Dandenong Rangers this weekend! Both teams currently sit on a 4 win 0 loss record and are vying for a top spot in the top 4. The Perth Wheelcats will have Justin Eveson and Michael Hartnett rejoined to the group this weekend in what will be the strongest line up we have put up this year! Michael Hartnett comes back to Perth fresh from the end of his season in Italy and I’m sure is keen to have an impact and get amongst the action in front of an always impressive home crowd!

Hartnett, along with Justin Eveson and Shaun Norris recently come back from the World Championships in Birmingham where they were a massive part of the Rollers successful campaign where they picked up the gold against France in the final. Clare Burzynski also returns from the World Champs back to the Perth Wheelcats where she will provide vital low point support as well as give us the opportunity to run our higher point combinations. Norris and Burzynski have already put the Wheelcats jersey on since World’s both playing against Adelaide in our recent success.

Over the past few weeks the Wheelcats have been putting in the work on the court by training the house down. Kim Robins, Robert Pike, Brant Garvey and Adam Deans will be looking to show off their hard work in front of a home crowd by pushing the Rangers to the limit as we look to extend our record to 6 wins 0 losses. We have been saying to each other over the past months that it doesn’t matter about our side of the score board, we know with the many offensive threats that we are going to keep the score board ticking no matter what the opposition throws at us. Be prepared to see an excellent and impressive defensive display by the Perth Wheelcats this weekend where we will be looking to keep the Rangers to a defensive target. The Perth Wheelcats run 12 deep during all games and we will be looking to keep up constant pressure by rotating fresh arms onto the floor this weekend.

Each week the new look Perth Wheelcats are building more and more from our solid foundations and are looking to destroy the target we set ourselves on and off the court. After this weekend the season will be half over and with the Rollerhawks, Spinning Bullets and Razorbacks still to face we will be looking to send shock waves to the East coast to let them know we are coming over. The finals are something that the Wheelcats are looking forward too but we know that to get there we have to focus on the week to week tasks that we have to complete to get there.

Hope to see you at the game this weekend!

Lee