Play all audios:
SHAYNE HOPEThe West Australian The Perth Wildcats today barred co-captain Brad Robbins from speaking at a pre-arranged press conference for fear of causing an unnecessary distraction ahead
of this week’s road trip to New South Wales. The Wildcats take on the resurgent Sydney Kings on Friday and last season’s grand final rivals Wollongong a day later and are focusing most of
their energies on the first game. But Wollongong have started the mind games early ahead of Saturday’s fixture at the WIN Entertainment Centre. Hawks players and officials are still unhappy
about an incident that occurred during their loss in Perth last month and have released a tongue-in-cheek video urging fans to “show Robbins what you really think” of him. During the January
14 clash between the two teams, Robbins retaliated to a clumsy challenge by Dave Gruber by throwing the ball at the Wollongong big man’s head from close range. Robbins admitted after the
game he had become frustrated and lost his temper on-court and later apologised to Gruber, however, several members of the Hawks team took to social media website Twitter to vent their
anger. Injured veteran Glen Saville called Robbins a “turd” and Tyson Demos described the incident as a “dog act”. Robbins responded at the time by referring to the Twitter comments as “a
bit immature”. The new video features several Wollongong identities asking “who’s Brad Robbins?” and Saville making fun of the Wildcats guard’s jump shot. NBL Hall of Fame member and
television commentator Andrew Gaze also makes a cameo appearance. Robbins was barred from commenting on the video, with Wildcats officials keen to avoid a pre-game war of words. But there is
no doubt what will be waiting for the undermanned reigning champions on the NSW south coast on the weekend. The Hawks are fired up and hell-bent on improving their play-off chances by
ending their long losing streak. Wildcats assistant coach Shawn Dennis has already taken the bait and it appears a classic encounter could be on the plate. “Interesting video by Hawks and
competition,” Dennis posted on his Twitter account. “Shame they are still having a sook about the Robbo incident. Real men get on with it.” GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM THEWEST.COM.AU IN YOUR
INBOX. Sign up for our emails