Rillie on Doolittle re-signing, Wildcats' NBL24 campaign

Rillie felt Doolittle, who inked a one-year contract extension, complemented the rest of the Wildcats’ roster already locked in for NBL25 including fellow starters Bryce Cotton, Keanu Pinder and Hyrum Harris.

The 26-year-old averaged nine points, a team-high 6.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists for the season including four double-doubles.

“It’s very important for us to establish something early on after the season has ended and we just feel like Kristian’s versatility really complements the players we’ve got committed for next season,” Rillie told Channel 9.

“We’ve already got a lot of the roster signed up for next year but our staff and our franchise has finally got some consistent pieces in place that they haven’t had for a number of years.”

The Wildcats finished second on the ladder, a remarkable result after a 2-5 start to the season, before getting knocked out by Tasmania in a see-sawing semi-final series.

Rillie said there was “a lot of good” to come out of the campaign, but admits giving up a decent lead against Tasmania in game two of the semi-final series proved to be the team’s downfall.

“There was a lot of good to come out of the season,” Rillie said.

“Game two in particular against Tasmania, that’s the game we should’ve really capitalised on with the way we were playing.”