? Why would Fearne leave Cairns?

Yeah why would he want to leave a club that appreciates his efforts to go to a club with a poor reputation?

Fearne could have been sacked last year after a terrible year with very much a similar side to who they have now...

His contract may have been too pricey to pay out and they stuck with him and are reaping all the rewards... Good on the whole organization.

As for Melbourne - not even Chris Anstey or Brian Goorjian wants to coach them!

Fearne could have been sacked last year after a terrible year with very much a similar side to who they have now...

Yes, Isaac, Tragardh and Wilson were missing the last game of 2013-14, against the Breakers. However, Cairns won that game.

One significant difference between the two seasons is that Tragardh missed more than half of 2013-14. He was their second highest PPG contributor in 2013-14 and has been again this season. But this season he's played all or nearly all games, as have the other players in their main rotation.

My memory is-

cairns supporters getting on here saying fearne should b sacked and his teams don't score, are boring to watch, only got the gig still bcoz his mates are on the board, Etc etc

12 months is a very long time in sport

Some fans expressed these sentiments for sure but many of us still maintained confidence in Fearne and his system.

Rumours of players disliking the intensity of his training sessions (unfounded or otherwise) didn't help matters and the unhelpful challenge to the board led by a former club president certainly didn't help the club.

As you said, turns out the club was right to maintain faith in Fearne's system. Granted it is specific and requires certain personnel to make it work and all players buying in totally (how many teams would have Wilson or Trigger coming off the bench?) but it has paid dividends now as it did in 2011.

Hasn't Fearne also admitted he has made changes to his in-game coaching? You can't just say nothing was his fault prior to this season and it was all on the players.

Surely it's hard to find complaints with 1st position.

Adelaide stuck with the useless Marty+Mark combo for 3 years of dismal results with many top quality players. (Geez these guys haven't been mentioned in a while, Happy days with Joey!)

End of last season Fearne was told to pull his head in by senior management and it seems to have worked. Watch him with players coming off court.. he NEVER used to high-five anyone until this season.

There's a lot of Cairns fans who would love to see him gone at the end of this season, regardless of where the team finishes and Mick Downer will be a shoe-in for the job.

"Most Cairns fans still want him gone, don't you worry about that." - That's just about the dumbest thing i've seen posted on this board.

And senior management telling Fearne to 'pull his head is' ... NEVER high-fiving players? That's simply untrue.


There is a noisy minority of haters and thankfully we've got a management team/board that can rise above some the few pitchforks wavers. Every club has those folk.

It's no secret that Fearne's adjusted his approach based on feedback from his support team/senior players - the fact his listen and adjusted is a bloody good indication of a good coach.

He. Aint. Going. Nowhere.

Yeah, I haven't always been a huge fan of Fearne, but his willingness to listen to senior players, cop it on the chin and ACTUALLY do something about it, has earned my respect for sure...

Cairns being a community club, everyone involved with the club at all levels is heard. The loudest voices were the retained players, his coaching staff and the board who come from the Foundation members - its part of the 360 degree review and feedback system the club implemented with the board at all levels of the organisation Points to come out of the review and feedback:

1. Players told Fearne that he needed to 'chill out' with working the players too hard. they were tired and over worked for the games - Scott Callahan the Conditioning coach was given free reign to monitor players workloads and give more days off but focus training into more intense programs. Cairns have won the 2nd game on back to games all season because the players weren't wrecked. Injuries are down compared to previous years and the playes are fitter/stronger than ever before - doing shorter training sessions n incorporating yoga/crossfit/sea kayaking etc

2. Fearne was told to chillout with his rigid time management of player substitutions and sub players based on game dynamics with the advice of his asst coaches. I previous years, if Torrey Craig was firing and got his 8 min on court that quarter he would get pulled, now he is left on till he gets tired and steve weigh can play the 4 to rest the bigs. Fearne would never do that before and be so rigid. You cant go 20 points up on the 36ers and then lost by 12 at the end - well you can if Joey Wright knows the pattern and changes his tactics to beat you.

3. Fearne now also gets involved with the players off the court and participates in all player functions etc it means he has a better relationship with all players and can manage personalities, not just numbers. You can tell players respond to a coach that stands up for them on court and off court. He isn't above the team and the players and close fans can see that. He is a changed man - he got too wound up and tried to fantasy league manage the team instead of managing people.

4. Mick Down is a world class technical coach and now as Boomer asst coach - brings new techniques and insight. Fearne was told to take it on board - he did in preseason and we see the difference now.

5. Final big point - Sports Psychologist. Foundation members pushed for this the 3 years Jamar was there - the team lacked mental toughness and cohesion. If we had a sports psych we would have made the playoffs wih Jamar and the team being built. It cant be denied now that the team has a mental resilience and identity - this is key in winning the tight games and those grueling away games.

Overall Fearne is 180 degrees different to what he was doing before. All credit to him - he swallowed his pride and listened, adapted and integrated everything he was told. Bang 1 game away from top spot and home adv in the finals. Fearne will never leave Cairns as his family is here, his kids are local rep players, wife works at cairns highschool and 2 NBA players in Jawai/Baynes call him coach. If he hadn't have changed i would say he would have got the boot and Downer given a chance. He adapted, gave more power to his asst coaches and is reaping a record season. United can go grow their own talent and stop stealing ours - chewie/dorsey/DD now Fearne ? Yeah right.

If Fearne had of missed the four this year I reckon he would of got the boot but he will be back as Venom said and can't see him leaving as has been up there for the last 15 years unless he gets a crazy offer.

even if he got a crazy offer I dont think he'd go, he's invested so much into Cairns basketball.
The work he does off the court for the community and club is immense and rarely gets mentioned. Can't see him leaving that behind, unless it's a gig coaching the Spurs.

Venom's right when he mentions the S&C coach - Scotty is a world class inflicter of pain but has a great understanding of how much is too much. It helps too that he's a great human.

I couldn't be happier for all their success this season. I don't think i've met a harder working bunch of people in any industry.

Great post Venom, really insightful.

One other big factor is after the 2012 season Fearne decided they needed to be better in the possession game to compete with NZ and Perth, so changed his conservative o-board/d-trans strategy.

The first two years the balance of what he was trying to do wasn't right, the players didn't get it, they sorely missed Crosswhite defensively and it left them exposed in transition time and again.

This season, Fearne has got that balance right, Tragardh is much better defensively, Burston is fit and the core group have been together a number of years and know what they're trying to do inside-out.

Now, after all that, do you think Fearne would be interested in leaving and going to a club who made a coaching change after one game this season?

Great points too Paul, it's been a significant evolution from the style that took us to the finals 3 seasons ago.