COURTESY NBL.com.au

By Chris Pike, Sportal

Luke Kendall has signed with the Perth Wildcats and can’t wait to be playing once more after the disappointment of the Sydney Kings folding and being the last man cut from the Boomers squad.

The 27-year-old guard is a quality signing for the Wildcats who are currently suffering a bad run of injuries after a road trip that saw them beat Melbourne, but lose to Wollongong and Sydney.

With guards Brad Robbins, Peter Crawford and Adam Caporn suffering knee complaints, Kendall will make his debut on Wednesday night at Challenge Stadium against the Hawks and can’t wait.

Since being the last man cut from the Australian squad heading for Beijing, Kendall has been working out one-on-one with former Kings coach Billy Tomlinson waiting for the right offer, and the Cats have won the battle to sign him.

“When the Sydney Kings went down my job opportunities in Australia were vastly limited in comparison to right at the end of last season,” Kendall said.

“So myself and my agent looked overseas but didn’t find a good situation. I’ve loved playing in the NBL for the last four years so I’m definitely excited to be playing for the Perth Wildcats.”

“After the last six months and what happened with the Kings, the Boomers and over the last few months, I can’t tell you what will happen for the rest of the season but at the moment I’m excited to be here and that’s where my head is at.”

Kendall will have no trouble fitting in with the Wildcats having played with most of the team before.

He also has tremendous respect for the side after the tough series in last season’s play-offs, which saw the Kings advance to grand final series.

“In the Australian team, I was with Robbo, (Adam) Caporn and Shawn (Redhage), I was with Ben Knight in Sydney for a couple of years, (Isiah) Victor for a year, and (Paul) Rogers with the Boomers as well, so I’ve played with most of them and don’t feel like an outsider,” he said.

“It was a great series and the Perth Wildcats have always been a good physical team, which is the way I like to play. It was a great rivalry and that series was one we will always remember. We just got over the line in that first game in Sydney, then came back to Perth with Jason (Smith) out and they gave it to us, and then we went back home and everything fell for us.”

“When the series was finished, we had to move quickly onto Melbourne but we were always thinking what an awesome series against Perth it was to be part of.”

Obviously missing out on going to Beijing was tough to get over, but Kendall is now focused on helping Perth win games. He will help run the point guard spot alongside Darnell Hinson and feels he has a point to prove.

“Definitely it hurt after a four-year build up. In the end, they picked the guys they felt were going to do well and they did pretty well over there, but it was gut-wrenching for me as I was the last one cut,” he said.

“It makes you think what you could have done more, but all it is now is a little bit of extra motivation and I’m more experienced to prepare for something like that next time. Hopefully I can make the team in four years time.”

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