Perth Wildcats coach John Rillie has put the onus on his players to address their inconsistency in home games, admitting he’s been able to sense uncertainty in the Red Army throughout their campaign.

The Wildcats have come away winners in only four of their nine appearances in front of their own fans this season, against a far more impressive road record of 6-3.

Their past two games in Perth have seen them surrender a 21-point lead to go down to the Bryce Cotton-led Adelaide 36ers and suffer a 29-point thumping at the hands of Sydney Kings.

A clash with South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday night will be fifth-placed Perth’s final home game before they begin a run of five on the road spanning across more than three weeks as RAC Arena shifts into tennis mode for the United Cup.

Rillie said his side needed to bridge the gap between their best and worst on their own floor.

“I think we’ve had some moments where the crowd and the fan base are starting to see what we can become, but the inconsistency in the home games, everyone kind of holds their breath a little bit to see what happens in that moment,” Rillie said.

“That’s something we can’t worry about, we’ve got to produce some moments for them to feel like they can fully support and become that sixth man.

“We have to figure out a way to win at home, no doubt about that. But as I’ve talked about, it’s the way we play consistently, and then the result will take care of itself.”

After missing the second half of Perth’s win over Brisbane on Sunday, Jesse Wagstaff went through individual work as the rest of the team trained on Wednesday, with Rillie confirming the club captain would be sidelined for the clash with the Phoenix due to hamstring tightness.

Later in the day, the club confirmed he would also miss Sunday’s game against Tasmania.

Jo Lual-Acuil sent a scare through the Wildcats’ camp on the eve of what would be his 150th NBL game when he went down with a rolled ankle during training.

The star centre did not complete the session, watching from a treatment table as he iced both his right ankle and knee, but an emphatic Rillie said he had no doubt his side’s leading scorer would be able to take his place for the milestone game.

“Jo’s a resilient player, so he’ll be playing tomorrow night,” Rillie said.

“An ankle sprain and something like that is commonplace in our workplace, so we let the experts do what they do.”

Perth struggled to deal with South East Melbourne’s sustained defensive pressure in their only other meeting this season, which ended in a five-point defeat.

The Wildcats turned the ball over 20 times and surrendered 16 offensive rebounds when they last took on the Phoenix, which Rillie said he had put a key focus on addressing.

“We get stuck reflecting on the score and the outcome. If you watch the game again and again and again, we had our opportunities and moments throughout the (last Phoenix) game,” he said.

“You’re never going to solve the world’s problems, but if you can just solve a couple . . . we’ll be really in the game.”