I'm calling it: Q1 6:30. First Loughton fist pump.

Surprised the Hawks are not favourites. I know the Taipans are at home, but they're down an import? Would've thought Illawarra have one of the better balanced line-ups in the league this year.

@Isaac. The three Taipans imports are Scoochie Smith, Jerry Evans Jr and Nnanna Egwu. Are you counting Evans out because he's just arrived, or did you forget one?

Just to clarify Aussie's OP, game time is 6:30pm Qld time, which is of course 7:30pm AEDT.

Hawks

Hawks should take it, but always tough in Qld.

All dunks and layups so far.

Not sure about Cairns' new "Iso Weigh" offense...

To his credit Jawai looks noticeably slimmer than he did last season.

Is it compulsory to call a foul on every play?

Best Jawai has looked in years.

Potty mouth Fearney on the sideline mic :D. When will they ever learn? /rolleyes

...and Jawai is injured...

I reckon Nate need to lose at least 5 more kilos to stay healthy.

Snakes current gameplan seems a little over-reliant on jawai. Could be an issue

I get Fearne not being happy with Scoochie leaving Clarke wide open on that one possession in the 3rd, but sometimes you just have to let guys play through it... not having a PG on the floor is hurting them, lucky to be only down 4.

That's Fearne he's always been too stubborn for his own good.

Big time play from loughton there to win the game

lol... fun game, but man, some bad mistakes from both teams these last 15 seconds.

And props to Loughton. I've been counting him out for about 3 seasons straight now, and he had a hell of a game tonight.

Hawks might've got their import mix sorted finally? Good signs from the two new guys, and Rotnei was great.

AngusH you're not the only one who has counted Loughton out for years. He's a man who gives his heart every time he hits the floor, and should get more respect for his skill as well as his endeavour.

That was a pretty good win for the Snakes, although they made too many mistakes.

I don't think Fearne benched Smith only for his lapse against Clarke. He wasn't doing enough with the ball. He will need to be a lot more aggressive looking to penetrate or shoot, because we weren't getting good shots when he was being passive.

Great game from McCarron. He will be a really good player this year, probably very valuable for a fantasy league team.

Predominately it was our bigs that got the job done, with big games from Loughton, Jawai and Egwu. AJ was the best of the visitors and could very easily have been adjudged mvp, I reckon.

Cairns imports wouldn't want to combine for 14 points every game.
Loughton was outstanding

Did Loughton just play the best game of his career at the ripe old age of 36?

Ok he's 34... But still, an old fart. And what a game.

Still, if I'm a Hawks fan I'm very excited about this season. Conger and Johnson give them as different look. More flexibility and more athleticism.

They may well have patched up some weaknesses from last season by getting a bigger, more athletic, more versatile wing. They are still one quality player short compared to say United, but they are very very deep, well coached, and their roster has a better balance to it now that they've got Conger.

And yeah I was miffed by that reffing too. A lot of very soft calls.

As far as Cairns goes, they did let some dunks through but late they played some good pressure D.

McCarron is now 25 and has played 3 pro seasons in his 2 years since leaving college. He's at the right experience and age profile where he might well take a step forward this season. And he was very good tonight. Jawai is in good shape (injury notwithstanding). Gliddon is always going to be solid. Too early on Smith. But Cairns are always competitive under Fearne and showed real spirit tonight. Jawai was killing it, I thought they'd have no answers once he went off. How wrong, great game

Anon #649138 has pointed out Demetrius Conger's stat line showing 0-1 3 pts made. He took a shot off a screen when his defender went under the screen, which went in.

I remember it happening, and it being called a 3 by the commentators. Does anyone remember what stage of the game it happened?

It's possible the refs called it 2. I watched on nbl.tv at fairly low res, and I thought it was 3. Maybe he had a foot on the line. The Hawks didn't kick up a fuss, and still haven't, AFAIK.

What would the NBL do if this was proven to be a mistake? I think the result would stand. There's no rule allowing a rematch or extra time - Cairns suffered that when Adelaide ran from the building with a win when there was still time on the clock in Cairns many years ago.

I could not see a foul on Martin in that last play. Loughton made it look bad.

Clipped him on the head, he knew it and started looking for a hole to climb into rather than arguing it!

"To his credit Jawai looks noticeably slimmer than he did last season."

I'm surprised there wasn't more talk about this on here in the off-season.

Freethrows, the argument was that Dusty Rychart let the shot go after the siren, rather than there being time left on the clock.

You had to go and bring up that Adelaide game Freethrows.....

I'd finally managed to put that behind me...

After the shot clock siren*

Sorry guys, I had to bring it up due to relevance (slight). Anyway, can anyone tell me

what happened to Conger's shot?

I did notice Vaughn reviewing something on the score bench monitor late in the game... maybe it was the Conger shot?

A made three has been removed from Clarke's line and added to Conger's.

was Rot's show about 5 minutes into the 2nd qtr, foot was on the line. Originally got called a 3 but got changed about 4 plays later during a foul stoppage.

Koberulz, that's what I wanted to know.
Thanks.