{"id":156230,"date":"2025-09-20T08:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T08:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/156230\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T08:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T08:51:11","slug":"perth-fuelled-by-pain-of-playoff-heartbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/156230\/","title":{"rendered":"Perth fuelled by pain of Playoff heartbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

After back-to-back Playoff exits, Kristian Doolittle and his Perth Wildcats are determined to go one, and even two steps further during the Hungry\u2019s Jacks NB26 season.<\/p>\n

During the Wildcats media availability on Friday, the 27-year-old explained how past results are driving this new-look Wildcats outfit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal every season I go into is to win a championship and after falling just short the past few seasons, I\u2019m as hungry as ever,\u201d said Doolittle, who is entering his third year with the Perth-based club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe expectations of what is required when you play for this organisation is well known.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a leader of this new group, it\u2019s on my shoulders to drive home that point and lead by example.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As the Oklahoma alum touched on, this is a new group for the Wildcats – headlined by recruits Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. and Mason Jones.<\/p>\n

And while they\u2019ve shown positive signs during the pre-season, he knows they\u2019re still a work in progress – with Saturday\u2019s home-opener against Tasmania providing another chance for this group to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201c[As a new group] I feel we\u2019ve come together well to establish our strengths and weaknesses, with the coaching staff putting us all in the best position to be successful,\u201d the forward said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone, including myself, knows they need to be ready when their number is called.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all taken on a greater sense of responsibility [without Bryce Cotton on the team] and are embracing the opportunity in front of us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we\u2019re a work in progress and are trying to make the most of each opportunity we get on court together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s Round 1 clash tips off at RAC Arena at 8pm AEST, broadcast live on ESPN.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After back-to-back Playoff exits, Kristian Doolittle and his Perth Wildcats are determined to go one, and even two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-156230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}