BIO: Adam Brennan was born in Melbourne (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Chelsea basketball program.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Adam Brennan made his NBL debut with the Perth Wildcats on 12/4/1985. He scored 23 points in his first game.

Jay Brehmer became the Wildcats’ fourth coach in four seasons when he joined the team in 1985, bringing in a number of fresh faces to the roster. US imports Dan Clausen (via Adelaide) and Roland Brooks joined the team as well as local talent Brennan and Sandy Caldwell, who would both play key roles as rookies. Perth began the season by winning their first three games in a row, taking a number of team’s by surprise in the process. Once the team began playing opponents on the road, however, they quickly fell back to earth and sat on 4 wins and 4 losses only a month later.

The team was led by Dan Clausen who racked up big numbers in every statistical category. He led the team in points (25.7 ppg), rebounds (15.7 rpg) and blocks (2.4 bpg) while ranking second in assists (3.4 apg), steals (1.4 spg), making him a clear choice for the club MVP award. Roland Brooks (23.2 points and 10.0 rebounds) and Mike Ellis (17.7 points and 6.0 assists) supported Clausen admirably but Perth’s inability to win outside of Western Australia (compiling a 4-9 record on away games) they finished the season in eighth place, falling well short of making the NBL playoffs. In his rookie season, Brennan averaged 11.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 3 assists as Perth finished with a 13–13 record, which at the time, was the best record in franchise history.

1986
Perth started the season with five wins and five losses before losing import Roland Brooks (18.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.3 steals) to a season-ending injury.

During the 1986 season, local businessman Bob Williams was invited to attend a game by the state government. Williams agreed and, after one game, liked what he saw and signed on as the club’s major sponsor. His company ‘Interstuct’ appeared across the front of the team’s uniform. At the end of the 1986 season, Bob Williams was called to a meeting by the WA state government. Williams was told that the WABF was bankrupt and that there was to be no Government assistance. Unless Bob Williams bought the licence from the state government, the Wildcats would cease to exist in the NBL. Williams left the meeting not only as the major sponsor but as the Wildcats, and the NBL’s first private owner and president of the WABF.

Losing Brooks, the team’s second leading scorer and rebounder, proved too much to recover from, resulting in Perth struggling to be competitive against the rest of the league and finishing in twelfth place (8–18).

The team was led by Dan Clausen (21.3 points, 14 rebounds, and 2.1 assists), captain Mike Ellis (16.2 points and 6.6 assists), newcomer Alan Black (12.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists) and Brennan also contributing 1.2 points per game.

1987
Many changes occurred in 1987. Most significantly, the team moved from the small confines of Perry Lakes Stadium to what was known in those days as the Perth Superdrome (now HBF Stadium). The Superdrome was capable of housing 5,000 people, compared to the 800-seat Perry Lakes Stadium. New owner Bob Williams moved quickly in turning the Wildcats’ basketcase to contenders, a team who, at that point, had never had a winning season. His first move was to recruit Cal Bruton as player/coach and provide him with a budget to ‘build me a team’, which Bruton set to work on immediately.

Bruton recruited star imports James Crawford (Canberra) and Kendal Pinder (Sydney), who would become one of the league’s best frontcourt duos. Bruton also bought a professionalism to the team demanded by their new owner. For example, the players wore suits with the team’s’ logo in public.

The new talent paid off immediately as the Wildcats’ recorded their best season to date. Crawford (33.4 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.9 steals and 2.3 blocks) would lead the team in scoring, steals and blocks, while Pinder (23.5 points, 13.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals) led the team in rebounds. Bruton, while juggling the player/coach role, averaged 16.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.6 steals led the team in assists, Mike Ellis, who remained as team captain, averaged 9.4 points, 4.5 assists and 1.2 steals and Brennan contributed 3 points, 1 rebounds, and 1 assists per game.

The team finished the regular season in fourth position (19–7), making the finals for the first time in franchise history. Crawford, who also led the league in field goal percentage and was selected to the All-NBL First Team, guided the Wildcat’s past Canberra in the elimination finals and then first placed Adelaide in the semifinals. Perth, after never having made the playoffs, suddenly found themselves in the Grand Final series against the Brisbane Bullets.

the Wildcats were repeatedly referred to as the ‘Cinderella’ story as they entered the season, having finished in third-last position in 1986, only to go on to make the Grand Final. The ‘run, stun and have some fun’ style of play that had been implemented that season had worked wonders until the Grand Final series. The series was a promoter’s dream: East Coast versus West; solid fundamentals versus ‘run and gun’ – future Hall of Fame members on both sides on the floor; and two coaches who couldn’t stand each other (Brian Kerle versus Cal Bruton). The Bullets defeated the Wildcat’s by just one point in front of a sell-out Perth crowd in game one of the three-match series before claiming the Championship in Brisbane in game two a few days later.

Adam Brennan played three seasons the Perth Wildcats. He averaged 7.6 points, 1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 43 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (817 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.