I wonder if Mark Worthington will be the new assistant coach then.

Makes sense, he keeps popping up in a Taipans t-shirt every chance he gets.

Perhaps confirmation that the head gig is Pearlman's after this season, as has been the talk previously.

I would have preferred to see Fearne leave and McLeod given the top job, but its hard to argue that Fearne didn't produce. He did well to get to 2nd spot.

However, the way Fearne allowed the Wildcats to dominate them is a major concern. Gliddon was ineffective. Nate, who supposedly loves to play under Fearne was disinterested (so much that Fearne started Egwu).

Trice was the only one on the floor consistently giving something but the number of times he lost Cotton on defence was concern.

"If individuals don't perform how can you put that on the coach?"

I see, so a head coach has no influence on players at all. My fault, sorry Aaron.

"He did well to get 2nd spot"...
Let's be honest there was one win diff from 2nd to second last. He/They were just lucky,hardly Fearne's wonderous coaching that got them there.

Pearlman head coach,thanks for that laugh Ben.

Nate had a hip injury for the last half of the season, and his shoulder was busted up bad in the last game of the season.

And no one contained Cotton the entire finals, he was the difference between the Cats winning the ring and not making the top 4.

Nate was injured often the season before for the Wildcats and had a terrible back injury where he was basically receiving treatment whenever he was on the bench.

Yet he showed up for the finals.

He wouldn't do that for his beloved mentor? Furthermore he was supposed to 'get in shape' for his mentor too, whatever happened to that?

Harken to the words of @Kingpodge, for his is the knowledge and the truth.

@Lovebroker, Nate could barely raise his arm above his head by the end of the season, which is why he had surgery, enough that he will miss a large chunk of the start of the season because of the recovery.

You may or may not remember that the Taipans overcame a horrendous start to the season to roar back into second place at the end of the regular season, a lot of which is down to Fearne. Not just his coaching on game night, but his decision to make the unprecedented move of sacking an import.

In terms of Nate "getting in shape" for Fearne: he lost 16kg before the start of the season, and was much more mobile on the court before his hip slowed him down than he had been for the Wildcats the previous year.

I hope to see Wortho in an official capacity as a Taipans coach this year. I strongly doubt that Pearl will get the Head Coach position. I think that's more likely to go to Mick Downer, if he can be prised from Andre Lemonass' clutches down in Brisbane.

I'm not going to bash Jawai but his numbers last season back in Cairns were almost identical to the numbers he put up in Perth the season before that.

Freethrow, may the spirit of Phil Jones' jumpshot shine upon you.

Yeah i'd love to see Wortho on the bench with a clipboard in hand. I'll also be running a book as to when he get's his first bench tech :)

And put me down for Q3 on the 22/10 in your book, Podge :-)

hahaha you're in the book!


Wortho the cheerleader. I'd pay JUST to see that.

Podge, you should start a new thread with that book on Wortho. It will go gang busters.

I'll have $20 on Q@, Sun 8 October in New Zealand.

Maybe Gordie is going to the Kings so again have a real coach in the group rather than Gaze and Copeland.

He would be a real asset to them.

Jawai takes a shit and he loses 16kg, what's your point?

He actually lost slightly more than 16kgs before the season started.

I highly doubt Jawai with no pre-season training last year due to injury lost 16kg. He still looked pretty overweight last season I'd say 5kg tops.

His form last season has been explained away with injuries just like this upcoming season will be too now that he has another offseason injury.

This time next year we will be told he's lost 30kg and ready for a big contract year with the Taipans.

You win the internet, sir.

hahaha pay the man.

The finger injury he got late in the off season didn't stop him from doing S&C work.

The weight loss figure i have comes from the guy who was weighing him, I'm pretty comfortable with it's veracity.

p.s. when you're a unit the size of Jawai, dropping 16kgs probably wont show. You can remove a tonne of dirt from Mt Everest, and it's still the highest mountain in the world.

Now if NBL allstar weekend had a bikini and evening wear section, we'd probably all be wiser - albeit reasonably nauseous...

incorrect

"Jawai takes a shit and he loses 16kg, what's your point?"

When all else fails, enact some childish toilet humour to deflect others' points.

When you lose 16kg on a base weight of 140kg, thats more than 10%, on the balance of probabilities, you are going to notice that weight loss.

Nate was overweight at the Wildcats even the Wildcats conditioning team could not move those kilos.

Furthermore, Nate was also often playing injured. Anyone remember the Grand Final series? His back was so bad people were suggesting the Wildcats basically throw Game 2 by leaving him in Perth because he would not have endured the flight to NZ.

So Nate was overweight (140kg) and injured at the Wildcats, yet he played the same minutes as leaner (124kg) but also injured Nate @ the Taipans.

Based on the above, on the balance of probabilities, he did not lose 16kgs over the offseason. I'm not saying its impossible, but the indicators aren't there.

Lovebroker, you're assuming that Jawai came in at a base weight of 140kgs. That's not a fact. When he came out of te 2015/16 season with the Wildcats, he was 153kg. He lost 16kg in pre-season for 2016/17, coming in at 137kg.

And you know we'be got better things to do than make up how much weight someone lost - i’m Too busy lying about my own.

The facts don’t care if you believe them or not, it doesn’t make them untrue.

In fact, he dropped double digits in the first 2 weeks of camp, before the finger injury.

^ What???

"..but then...

"In fact, he dropped double digits in the first 2 weeks of camp"

Wait...don't forget then the finger injury happened, which then shutdown all other cardiovascular functions of the body.

Freethrows; was my reaction too. But that's first hand from the guy weighing the horses.

"So what did you do today honey"
“Oh you know, the usual, defended Nate Jawai's pre-season weight loss from anonymous people on the internet”
“A regular Friday then?”
“yep, pretty much”

"Oh you know, the usual, defended Nate Jawai's pre-season weight loss from anonymous people on the internet"

Not only that, but on a thread about Gordie McLeod!

Haha poor Gordie dont get no love!

Speaking of fitness, I reckon he'd still win MVp in most masters leagues around the country.

Respect to any man who signs his team poster with a picture of a stick man playing basketball. Class.

9 months of having caviar and foie gras spooned into his mouth by his butler ("assistant coach") I expect.

Whats Jawai weight loss or gain got to do with Geordie leaving Cairns.
Obsolutely nothing

hahaha Anonymous Perth poster continues to rail against reality. I can't believe this thread is still going.