Perth Wildcats coach John Rillie backs Ben Henshall, Elijah Pepper and Izan Almansa amid youth policy

November 10

Perth Wildcats coach John Rillie is confident his team will see the long term benefits of exposing the younger players early in the season despite slipping to a 5-6 record following Saturday’s loss to Melbourne United.

The Wildcats gave up a 19-point lead to lose 106-97 as Chris Goulding dominated for the home team with 46 points. Rillie took a risk at the start of the match by opening up with Izan Almansa, Ben Henshall and Elijah Pepper on court while Keanu Pinder, Tai Webster and Hyrum Harris watched from the bench.

Rillie has backed in his younger players to start the season and the number of minutes given to people aged 23 or under in the first 11 games has almost exceeded the entire tally from the last campaign.

He said it was important for the team to expose players now so they understand what is required to be successful.

“You have to respect the time, effort and energy you need to put in to winning,” Rillie explained.

Camera IconBen Henshall has been prominent for the Wildcats. Credit: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

“Everyone talks about winning. It’s hard to win. When you’re young, success is easy. You’ve always been successful. That’s why you’re on our team.

“But you’re playing against veterans that have families to feed. They love to keep competing and winning. So it’s just the evolution of our roster.

“The mixture of young guys and vets, the way that it’s coming together, I think people would see over the last couple of weeks what it can become. But you do have to accumulate wins as you go along.”

The Wildcats will host South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday night, less than two weeks after losing to them by 24 points in Victoria. The club has spent the last three weeks playing without superstar Bryce Cotton and there is still no timeline on his return from a rib injury.

Rillie praised his experienced players for accepting the need to give youngsters opportunities to shine

“Kristian Doolittle, Dylan Windler, Tai Webster, Keanu – Jesse Wagstaff hasn’t played in the last two games. Hyrum Harris has had very limited minutes,” he said.

“Everyone in this business has a lot of pride. So for them to represent the club in the way that they are, I hope the young guys understand that they’re getting some good work experience in the moment.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==Camera IconIzan Almansa and Elijah Pepper defend together. Credit: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

“Pepper’s had moments, Henshall’s had moments, Izan’s had moments. What I’m grateful for is we have veteran players that allow them to experience that. That’s a big piece that goes into all of this.

“It’s guys that are comfortable with themselves that are okay for these guys to live and learn. That’s when I know we have a chance for this to move forward in a great direction.”

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