Pre-season training officially commences

Pre-season training officially got underway for the Perth Wildcats at the Bendat Basketball Centre on Monday.

While available players had been working out as a group for months, the milestone sees training increase in both volume and intensity.

The day started in the weight room, before a team meeting led by coach Trevor Gleeson.

They then hit the court for a tough two-and-a-half-hour session to set the tone for the year.

Gleeson said he liked what he saw.

“It was encouraging, the boys really got after it. It was a good high intensity. I liked it,” he said.

“The boys are in pretty good nick after a long off-season. The conditioning is really good, now it’s about playing together and bringing that intensity level, which we haven’t done for a while.

“We’ve done a lot of workouts both individually, and some scrimmages, but now it’s about bringing the intensity back into the contest.”

He said part of the focus is also getting the team’s new recruits up to speed.

“We have Todd (Blanchfield), and Kevy (White) and hopefully John (Mooney) by the end of the week. So we’re integrating all of our offensive sets, our reads and our defensive coverage, so they get familiar out on the court.”

Joining the contracted and development players on the court were Nelson Kahler and Jarred Bairstow.

The Queensland pair are trialling for a roster position.

“With Majok going down we need a bit of help there with the bigs. They both practiced really well today so we’ll see how they pull up, and if they can back it up tomorrow.”

Kahler, 26, is an athletic big man standing at 206cm. He most recently represented the Sunshine Coast Phoenix in the NBL1 North.

Bairstow, 28, is the younger brother of Hawks centre Cameron. He stands at 201cm and played four games for the Brisbane Bullets in 2016/17. Most recently he also played in the NBL1 North for the Brisbane Capitals.

The delayed 2020/21 NBL season is due to commence in January.

Perth Wildcats memberships are available now!