BIO: Liam Rush was born in Broome (WA).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Liam Rush made his NBL debut with the Perth Wildcats at 21 years of age. He scored two points in his first game.

In the days following their grand final loss to Sydney, Perth choose not to renew Alan Black’s contract and parted ways with him for a second time (he was sensationally sacked in 1990 after just one season as a coach before being brought back in 1998 to replace the outgoing Adrian Hurley. After the change, Perth struggled to retain a lot of the roster which had reached the 2003 NBL Grand Final under Black, with only five players returning for 2003/04. Team captain Ricky Grace, James Harvey, Tony Ronaldson, Matthew Burston and Ben Thompson remained as the club’s core group after losing Brett Wheeler (Sydney) and last season’s leading scorer Rob Feaster (Victoria) after both were asked to take 30% pay cut. They were then replaced with import tandem Reed Rawlings and John Jackson. Young guns Travis Lane and Liam Rush were also signed to fill out the team’s second unit.

Past Wildcat legend Mike Ellis was brought in as head coach and struggled to retain the previous season’s roster, which had reached the Grand Final under Black. Only five players would return, Ricky Grace (team captain), James Harvey, Tony Ronaldson, Matthew Burston and Ben Thompson. Brett Wheeler (Sydney) and last season’s leading scorer Rob Feaster (Victoria) both signed with other clubs after being asked to take a 30% pay cut and replaced with young talent Travis Lane (Sydney) and rookie Liam Rush. Imports Reed Rawlings and John Jackson were both added to round out the roster.

After losing the first two games of the season, Reed Rawlings (12.5 points and 2.5 rebounds) was replaced by Rashad Tucker, who performed well in his debut, but it was when Ricky Grace went down with a injury that Tucker took control of the team and the point guard spot and setting a NBL record for single-season triple-doubles, notching up six during his first year with the Wildcats.

This season also saw James Harvey (20.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists) develop into one of the league’s most potent offensive weapons, his scoring increasing by 6 points per game, becoming the team’s leading scorer. while Rush averaged 3.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.1 assists.

In Ellis’ lone season as coach of the Wildcats, the team would record their first losing season (15 wins, 18 losses) since 1986, finishing in the seventh spot after a season destroying team’s at home (13-3) but failing to win on the road (2-15). In a year where the league’s top eight team’s would make the playoffs thanks to a early format of the play-in tournament, the Wildcat’s faced sixth-placed Cairns in a qualification game. There, former Perth guard Anthony Stewart (30 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists) led Cairns to victory (103-96) and ended the Wildcats’ season.

2004/05
Mike Ellis was replaced as coach by another former player, Scott Fisher prior to the 2004/05 season. In addition, co-owner Luc Longley relinquished his majority share of the Wildcats in April 2004, leaving Andrew Vlahov as the sole owner of the franchise.

After Perth’s leading scorer James Harvey chose to play overseas (Israel) this season, Perth were then forced to rebuild. Tony Ronaldson, Matthew Burston, Liam Rush, Ricky Grace (captain) and Rashad Tucker, who had broken every triple-double record the season prior, all returned from the previous season but lost their leading scorer James Harvey to a lucrative contract overseas (Israel). Perth brought in Townsville product Peter Crawford to fill the scoring void left by Harvey and, looking for ways to bolster the frontcourt, signed import Jaron Brown, who wasn’t a great fit and was replaced by Rosell Ellis before the season started. Matthew Shanahan (via Wollongong), Braith Cox (via state league) and Adrian Majstrovich (via NZNBL) were all later added to round out the team’s second unit.

The Wildcats’ season started out hot, defeating Harvey and the Razorbacks in their opening game (120–97), adding a home win against Cairns in round two (110–93) and then two easy wins over both Hunter (85-72) and Townsville (108–101) to start the season 4-0.

Tucker (17.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.5 steals) was player of the week in round one, and was putting up impressive numbers once again but concerns around his attitude resulted in Perth sacking him by round nine.

The Wildcats then replaced Tucker with Ontario Lett as a means to fill the gap left by a season ending injury to centre Matt Burston (14.8 points and 6 rebounds), who managed to play in only 8 games. Tucker would land on his feet, knocking back offers from Brisbane and Townsville to sign a deal to play with Melbourne shortly after.

Shortly after, media reports suggested that Tucker’s attitude and behaviour were overblown and a result of Fisher wanting to replace one of the team’s imports with Lett and after Rosell Ellis, who was originally destined for the chop, exploded with a 38 point and 15 rebound effort against Townsville, the axe was swung on Tucker. In either situation, the move failed to improve the team’s win/loss record. With the team struggling to win on the road again, they finished in seventh place (17-15) record for the second consecutive season.

Rosell Ellis (17.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game) collected the Wildcat’s MVP award after he finished as the Wildcat’s leading scorer and rebounder, as well as being the league’s most effective scorer, shooting 61% from the floor. Peter Crawford (15.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists) impressed during his first year in Perth and collected the NBL Most Improved Player award at the season’s end. Rush finished the season with averages of 5.3 points, 3 rebounds, and 0.5 assists.

The 2004/05 season saw the end of a era as captain Ricky Grace played his last game of his career with the Wildcats on 24 February 2005. Grace retired as a four-time NBL champion and a 15-year member of the Wildcats.

2005/06
After Ricky Grace retired in 2005, veteran Tony Ronaldson was elevated to team captain of the Wildcats. While the team looked to build on its disappointing seventh place finish last season, they kept the majority of their local intact, the only major change being the departures of Grace, Adrian Majstrovich (New Zealand), and seldom used Braith Cox (Melbourne), while replacing them with Paul Rogers (via Spain), Dillon Boucher (via New Zealand) and rookie swingman Cameron Tovey.

the Wildcat’s did clean house when it came to imports, however. The departing Rosell Ellis (to South) and Rashad Tucker (to Melbourne) would be replaced by point guard David Bailey and Shawn Redhage, who joined the team after being unceremoniously cut by New Zealand in 2004.

In his first season at Perth, Redhage (20.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.1 assists), perhaps motivated by his Breakers’ experience, led the team in scoring alongside Bailey (17.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 2.0 steals), who proved to be a competent replacement for Grace.

With their two imports delivering, Tony Ronaldson (14.9 points, 5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists), Peter Crawford (14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 steals) would add additional scoring with veteran Matthew Shanahan (11.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.4 assists) produced the best season of his career coming off the bench.

Despite the reshuffled roster, Perth would finish seventh for the second season in a row.

Despite not having a winning record (16-16), the team qualified for the playoffs, with the league allowing the top eight team’s to proceed to the postseason.

There, things all began to click for the Wildcats, and after upset victories over both the sixth-ranked Brisbane (96-91) and third-ranked Wollongong (101-121), the team found themselves in a unlikely semi final appearance, facing off against a powerhouse Melbourne squad.

Behind the NBL MVP Chris Anstey and former Wildcat Rashad Tucker, the Tigers would prove too strong. Anstey (28 points and 11 rebounds) and Tucker (10 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals) delivered a comfortable 94-78 Melbourne win at home in game one. Then backing it in Perth, winning 106-101, with Anstey (29 points and 6 rebounds) and Tucker (9 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists), ending Perth’s ‘Cinderella’ playoff run and going on to win the NBL championship.

Rush would appear in 35 games and averaged 5.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 0.3 assists, while Redhage’s first year in Perth saw him finish runner-up in league MVP voting.

In February 2006, West Australian businessman Jack Bendat became the chairman and majority shareholder of the franchise. Although no longer the majority shareholder, Andrew Vlahov remained in control of the team as managing director. Bendat then assumed full control in 2007.

WEST SYDNEY RAZORBACKS
2006/07
With the team still struggling financially, they continued to make the most of their low cost roster but were boosted by the return of a healthy James Harvey, who missed the majority of last season through injuries. Coach Mark Watkins was able to convince young big man Julian Khazzouh to turn down a college scholarship in favour of a spot in the full-time roster. He later signed Justin Bailey and Cheikh Ya Ya Dia as the team’s imports.

The updated roster did little when it came to West Sydney’ fielding a more competitive team. Behind another poor showing, the Razorbacks finished in last place (5-28) for the second straight season.

There weren’t many moments to celebrate, but West Sydney beating Wollongong and breaking their 20-game losing streak against them was one of few. Six games after that, the Razorbacks thumped crosstown rivals, the Sydney Kings (106–75) at the Pig Pen, a game which saw Kings coach Brian Goorjian make history for coaching the most games in NBL history.

It was around this time the Razorbacks team owner, Canterbury-Bankstown Rugby League Club, withdrew its financial support with Tri Media Group later taking over the running of the club, which had almost folded. It also was around this time that Watkins was axed and replaced by Cal Bruton.

Harvey (20.5 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists) would lead the team in scoring for a second year in a row while Rush (14.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists) won the league’s Most Improved Player award. Khazzouh (9.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 0.6 assists) finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Joe Ingles (South Dragons).

2007/08
By the 2007/08 season, the Razorbacks were in the midst of a multitude of financial problems. Under new ownership, the team chose not to re-sign coach Cal Bruton, who was hired mid-way through the previous season and added Rob Beveridge, a unproven young coach who was the former head coach of the junior men’s national team. The financial instability of the team saw leading scorer James Harvey and club veteran Scott McGregor both sign deals to play for Gold Coast. To replace them, Beveridge recruited two of his former junior players, University of Loyola Marymount graduates Damian Martin and Matthew Knight. Liam Rush was named team captain, and Darnell Hinson and Troy De Vries were later signed as import players.

a injury to Damian Martin during the pre-season saw him miss the first half of the season, forcing the team to rely on Hinson (20.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.1 steals) and De Vries (16.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists) to carry the offensive load and the ball carrying duties.

West Sydney struggled to be competitive most nights with its young roster, but there were still odd nights that they could squeak out a win if a number of players had big games. A win over the South Dragons (116-106) where Devries (31 points), Hinson (26 points), and Knight (23 points and 14 rebounds) all fired at once or the back-to-back wins where Hinson put up big numbers in wins against Gold Coast (32 points and 8 rebounds) and Cairns Taipans (31 points) but there were highlights for the Razorbacks across the season.

The team’s young frontcourt of Knight (12.0 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists) and Khazzouh (11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists) showed promise and was able to double the team’s number of wins from the previous season from 5 to 10. Rush would appear in 29 games and averaged 13.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists.

SYDNEY SPIRIT
2008/09
After struggling through the 2007/08 as the Razorbacks, West Sydney changed their name to the Sydney Spirit for the 2008/09 NBL season. The change was influenced by the Sydney Kings folding in 2008 and the Razorbacks ownership hoping to rebrand to Sydney in a effort to capitalise on the Sydney market.

The Spirit struggled to be competitive during the first half of the season, partly due to Damian Martin (5.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.9 steals) playing through a broken wrist suffered during the pre-season. To make things even worse, it became clear the club was in dire financial straits with attendances at the State Sports Centre rarely selling more than 2,000 tickets. A game against the Cairns Taipans in Round 21 made history when only a paltry 920 fans showed up, the lowest NBL attendance since the early 1980’s.

As a solution to keeping the team afloat and the NBL season alive, the Spirit’s ten contracted players and three coaches, including head coach Rob Beveridge, all agreed to live off just $150,000 between them to keep the franchise going—roughly $700 per week for Rush. Shortly after team captain Liam Rush (team captain), Julian Khazzouh and import Derrick Low would all leave the team for better deals overseas.

Before leaving mid-season, Rush would average 15.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists whilst the Spirit finished in eighth place on the ladder (11–19), missing the playoffs before exiting and leaving Sydney without a NBL team.

Liam Rush played eight seasons across three NBL teams. This included the Perth Wildcats, West Sydney Razorbacks, Sydney Spirit and Melbourne Tigers. He averaged 8.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 212 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (815 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.