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Perth Wildcats coach Scott Morrison demands action on bad starts against Illawarra Hawks

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Craig O'DonoghueThe West Australian
Perth Wildcats know they cannot afford to continue the trend of starting poorly.
Camera IconPerth Wildcats know they cannot afford to continue the trend of starting poorly. Credit: Mark Evans/Getty Images

Perth Wildcats coach Scott Morrison has turned up the heat on his biggest names ahead of Thursday’s game against Illawarra, demanding they come up with the reasons why they are consistently starting poorly.

The Wildcats have trailed by an average off 11 points after just five minutes in the last three games and that has blown out to an average of 13 points by quarter time.

Perth still won two of those games, including Saturday’s match against Illawarra, and have a 6-2 record but Morrison said the players have to rectify the issue.

“I kind of put it on the team this week,” Morrison said.

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Scott Morrison has come up with several plans, but now wants the players to assess their own starting methods.
Camera IconScott Morrison has come up with several plans, but now wants the players to assess their own starting methods. Credit: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

“I’ve tried a few things. I’m no genius or anything like that, but there’s only so much you can do. You want to play your best guys and they’ve proven time and time again that they are our best guys but for whatever reason, they are not starting with the urgency they need to.

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“There’s no sense tip toeing around it, it’s definitely an issue and it’s going to come back to haunt us if it hasn’t already. We need to get it fixed.

“They seem to agree they can work on it and fix it. At least this week, playing the same team that we’ve already played recently, there’s going to be no surprises.

“I can understand sometimes when you show film of Illawarra’s transition attack where they’re really fast and athletic but you don’t really grasp it on TV until you’re out there playing.”

Having played Illawarra on Saturday, the Wildcats are bracing for Hawks coach Brian Goorjian to throw different tactics at them. Perth experienced the bizarre example of beating South East Melbourne by 31 points last season and then losing to the same team by 25 points just three days later.

Morrison said it was difficult to win both games in those situations.

Bryce Cotton is among the starting group that is struggling to have an early impact.
Camera IconBryce Cotton is among the starting group that is struggling to have an early impact. Credit: Kelly Barnes/Getty Images

“It’s kind of like play-offs. Both teams go back to their corners and figure out what adjustments are going to be made,” he said.

“My opinion is the team who lost the first game has a slight advantage because they have a chance to make adjustments based on what they see, and the winning team is kind of just guessing what they’re going to do.

“So we have to be at our best and try to improve what we didn’t do our best in the first game and hope we can have a fresh start and take home two wins.”

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