Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
AAP
AAP
Steve Barrett

Rillie slams 'unbelievable' treatment of Cotton by refs

Bryce Cotton's lack of protection by NBL referees is "unbelievable" according to Perth's coach. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

Perth coach John Rillie has fired an off-script broadside at the NBL referees for not providing sufficient reward or protection for his superstar guard Bryce Cotton.

A short-priced favourite to secure his fourth league MVP and a near-certainty to take out his fifth scoring title, Cotton racked up 21 points and eight assists in the Wildcats' 103-91 victory over South East Melbourne at Melbourne's State Basketball Centre on Saturday night.

Cotton buried 8-of-8 free throws in his haul but Rillie was angered that the superstar import only drew those four shooting fouls throughout his 37-plus minutes on the court.

Rillie completed his post-match press conference by posing a query of his own, unprompted, to the reporters in attendance.

"I've got a question for someone in here - what does FD on the stat-sheet mean?" Rillie asked, before receiving the answer - fouls drawn.

"How many times the players were fouled? Okay.

"I grew up in the Andrew Gaze era - as a player we used to complain about how he got calls.

"But every team, top to bottom, had a hell of a scouting report for Andrew Gaze.

"So there was a level of frustration but he got rewarded because he was featured heavily."

"Bryce Cotton - four drawn fouls tonight."

The Phoenix were actually whistled for more fouls than Perth (22-16) while the Wildcats visited the charity stripe almost twice as many times (30-16).

And Cotton has led the NBL in free-throw attempts the past three seasons.

But Rillie appeared irked by the hands-fouls missed by the officials in favour of Cotton, who attacked the cup all evening, all while receiving a physical buffeting from Phoenix guards Ben Ayre and Owen Foxwell, particularly in the third quarter.

"I listen to every press conference, I read a lot of articles," Rillie continued.

"Tell me someone who doesn't have him (Cotton) at the top of the scouting report.

"And when he's aggressive ... four drown fouls. Unbelievable."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.