Perth Wildcats assistant coach Gerard Martin says he’s focusing on the controllables in the lead up to the NBL finals series, amid concerns surrounding the availability of RAC Arena during finals.
Over 10,000 fans and members could be locked out of the Wildcats finals next week due to a scheduling clash at RAC Arena, with popstar Kylie Minogue booking out the entire Arena for the week for one concert on Saturday February 15.
Club owner Mark Arena slammed venue management’s “absolutely ridiculous” decision to lock out their key tenants during week one of NBL finals in a club statement released on Monday.
Instead, the Wildcats are set to relocate to Perth High-Performance Centre – a 4,000 capacity stadium, in Mount Claremont to play the finals fixture.
Currently, the Wildcats sit in third and will play their final home game for the season at RAC Arena against the Adelaide 36ers on Friday night.
Speaking to SportFM, Martin says he is aware of the unfolding situation, but isn’t looking into it too much.
“We’ve got a game coming up on Friday. We need to take care of that. If we take care of that, there’s things that can happen that we may not be playing a game this next week.
“It’s really just focus on what can we do today and tomorrow to prepare for the Adelaide game.
“Then if things end up happening that way that we play at Challenge Stadium, we’ll be ready to go.
“If you put too much energy and effort into something that may or may not happen, there’s no real point. Just excited to be able to play this game on Friday and then see where we land.”

The Wildcats have not played a game at the Mount-Claremont venue since the 2011/12 NBL stadium.
However, HPC Perth was used for two NBL games during the NBL’s inaugural Hoopsfest held in Perth during September last year.
Heading into the final round, the Wildcats could finish anywhere between second and fifth on the ladder. Should they finish second they will not need to play a game until the week after Minogue’s concert.
But to lock in second spot, they will need to have a massive win against the 36ers and build a wide margin against the visitors at home.
Martin says the Wildcats are locking in on the practice courts to be as ready as possible for their final regular season home game.
“It’s definitely just focus on this next game and play a great style and brand of basketball,” he said.
“If we do that, things will pan out the way they pan out. We can’t control what other teams do, all we can control is what we do.
“If we play a great way, we’ll put ourselves in a great chance to get that second spot but if it doesn’t, we know we we’re confident.
“If we play our brand of basketball we’ll be able to compete with anyone.
“It’s really just take today, get after it on the practice court, prepare tomorrow heavily for Adelaide and then have a great last regular season game in front of our fans and give them a show.
“Hopefully it puts us in a good spot to get the second seed.”
IMAGE: FILE