Perth Wildcats’ saviour Jack Bendat hails ninth title as best of the lot

Perth Wildcats’ saviour Jack Bendat has hailed the club’s record-extending ninth National Basketball League title as its best ever.

Sitting at home in Crawley today, Mr Bendat watched his team’s 97-84 victory over reigning champion Melbourne United and said he was proud of his role in building the sporting powerhouse. The title was also a tribute to the support of his wife of 73 years Eleanor, who died last October.

Mr Bendat, 93, revealed he had asked coach Trevor Gleeson in the pre-season to get him a player who could score 20-plus points a game and a big centre. Gleeson responded by recruiting grand final Most Valuable Player, Terrico White, and luring back former Wildcat, Tom Jervis.

“It’s the best (win) and they did me proud,” Mr Bendat said.

“I think I’ve done the team and the game justice with the determination to take the Wildcats from a small club to a big club and to the best in Australia. It’s a great feeling, I’m going to have a scotch.”

Mr Bendat, who initially spent $8 million of his personal fortune to revive the Wildcats in 2006, has committed to bankrolling the Wildcats for “two to three years” in the event of his sudden passing. He said today’s victory may have been the last championship he would see.

He would not speculate on the future of the out-of-contract Gleeson.

The NBL confirmed today that the grand final series had been the highest-attended in competition’s 40-year history with 45,971 fans watching the four games. It broke last year’s record of 44,260 in five games.