ouch this is a serious beatdown!

You can't beat a nice pan fried hoke fillet on a Friday night
I wonder if the hoke is better when it's flame grilled?

I agree Taipans will be gone within the next few years and the fault lies directly with the GM and the board not Kelly.

Feel sorry for Kelly and Staff they are just not up to it, but of course took the coaching opportunity provided.

Let me say I was a Fearne fan but never saw him in rose coloured glasses. For all of his flaws, and there were many, he was the perfect fit for a budget organisation like the Taipans.

The nuffies in the crowd and the board wanted a more entertaining style - well how is that working out for you?

The nuffies in the crowd and the board wanted a coach who would give our imports freedom to play their natural style - well how is that working out for you?

Yes I agree, Fearne stifled talented offensive players because he was too demanding in regards to defensive principles and offensive structure. But he knew that if you have less talent or depth then you have to bring the star studded teams down to your level by scrapping and clawing for everything.

The nuffies and the board wanted a more personable coach rather than the angry brawler that Fearne was - well how is that working out for you?

People in Cairns will support their teams as long as they think they are giving it a crack and fighting regardless of the result. Sadly for Kelly he has not, all be it in a short period of time, shown he can get the buy in required. Again not his fault as I feel he is doing his best but has never had to work in the challenging situation that a low budget team provides.

I know people will suggest we are only a few games in with a new coach and new players and will try to be positive for the future. But what is the future for this team?

With Fearne and his shortcomings we also had Gliddon and McCarron guaranteed to return and with our Australian contingent were always a chance of playoffs - again with less resources than any other club (Hawks maybe comprable but easier to recruit to the gong than the top end). When Fearne got the imports right and found an import PG who could play D we were a GF team)

Currently what do we have? 2 gun imports who will be gone as soon as the season is over. Then a handful of vets at the end of their career with guys who have been rejected from other clubs.

So yes the Taipans are in trouble. Kelly is not up to it. But ultimately it is the board and the GM who chose this path and who need to be help accountable.

Kelly can take some blame for recruiting Kenny and DKD to the team. Their poor play has left a gaping hole in the rotation that is untenable if the Taipans want wins.

Sure, Cairns on a budget. But surely there were better budget players around than those two.

I hope this season's destined failure doesn’t dig the Taipans a grave, and also hope Kelly learns a few lessons.

Wonder how Pearlman would’ve gone.

Walker, Kenny,did are hardly NBL worthy players. Nate is to inconsistent and hall stinks

DKD is ok but nothing especial. Only Trimble and the ex breakers import are good

LoveBroker as stated in my post I lay minimal blame on Kelly and maximum blame on the GM and board.

The Taipans have lost 2 key players which the GM and board knew were tied with Fearne not just agent wise but also loyalty wise.

Aging Australian players = the need for a succession plan to build around. Looks like we threw a lot of money at short term imports rather than long term Australian talent. Again this might be more of a reflection upon small market Cairns than shortcomings of the GM, Board or Kelly. Still Fearne seemed to find plenty of Australian talent in his time.

My realistic expectation is alluded too in my previous post, that being for the Taipans to battle and fight and be in more contests than not. I hope you are an astute enough observer to note that KPI's that dictate competitiveness are well down and inclusive of tonight’s game are on a downward trend very fast.

I love Andrew Gaze but at present he is not a great coach. I know easy to be critical from an armchair where being a critic is 1000 times easier than the difficult job of being an NBL coach. But let’s be real, Andrew Gaze got the job and has been given so many lives because he is the greatest NBL player of all time and a marketing master stroke in a major capital city. To many the only thing they knew about Australian basketball for years was Drewie. So to answer your question, no Kelly does not deserve the same level of grace as his off to court influence is minimal in such a small market.

Finally the NBL regular season is 28 games. After this weekend the Taipans would have played 25% of their season. So to suggest it is early season is a bit misleading. While I think the Win/Loss aspect is quickly getting away from us, there are still 22 games to improve competitiveness and cultural buy-in.

If you can't afford to assemble a good roster the best you can hope for is being "competitive" and "brave in defeat"
The NBL model all but ensures that the Taipans & Hawks will constantly struggle.

It does seem that Fearne got fired for doing what Beecroft was doing in a GM capacity.

Fearne = low budget team always competive and often punched above their weight but was never a year in year out consistent championship contender.

Beecroft = solid job keeping the club afloat in a small market but has never been able to provide his club with the "big ticket" breakthrough resources to be a perennial contender.

If it continues to go pear shaped as it appears - pretty obvious who the board fires next I guess.

Melbourne Boy - yeah that is a tough timeline.

But surely part of MK's pitch to the board would be about the type of players he would be chasing in the free agent market to fit his philosophy. So he would already have a blueprint in place regardless.

As you stated he is already talking about refining his philosophy, likely to something less free flowing and more restrictive to counter the scoring of more talented teams ala Fearne like or perhaps Fearne lite.

So he is already backtracking, I guess whatever gets you the job. At least he is showing a willingness to evolve which is great.

My issue is this idea that the Taipans board had of a low budget aka less talented team playing run and gun entertaining Basketball oblivious to the fact that we could not compete this way.

If we win the wooden spoon but crowd numbers (sold tickets not free ones) stay high then I won’t like the losing but will love the fact we survive. History however shows losing does not equate to bums on seats.

MB - your comparison to the crocs is a very fair one and considering what happened to them after that season should be frightening for Taipans fans.

Think the Taipans have a little more gas in the tank than the Crocs did at that same stage - but being a regional team in a big city league the writing is on the wall.

Big Spending Teams will survive. Cairns have said they will only spend the cap.
Bye, Bye.

koberulz: if Taipans continue to lose home games like they have been, not enough people will attend to keep them afloat. First time they have started 0-3 at home in a long long time.

As you said they also had the bonus of being a promising young team who took a number of big scalps at home.

Taipans are definitely not young and have no promising Australian core like the Crocs to build around, but fingers crossed can take a few big scalps at home which will keep crowd numbers up.