Yes should be an interesting game, some of united guys looking oldish imo, some taipans guy looking a lot worse than their media profile imo. Edwards is an enigma, who turns up, I feel sorry for Cairns as I'm thinking upset which is not good on my tipping record. Hopefully taipans by two in a good game.

For f sake Hooley, shut the f up. Call the game, don't tell us about your two games in the past in cairns.

United have not been great but taipans been woeful, I'm not certain what Forde saw in Adnam but he’s been average. Great crowd being silenced by a non performance. Goulding and Delly been good.

Just watched the last 20 minutes of se7en. Sadly a better way to spend Boxing Day evening than this game

Dunkman, how dare you speak ill of Hooley! Don't you know he is an 'NBL Champion' as per his tagline at the beginning of each broadcast?

I had low expectations for this game. Those expectations are not close to being surpassed. With Hooley and Lowry talking garbage, it's Netflix time for me.

Btw Ariaa just called Cairns 'the Pythons'.

I'll watch it to the end but if you are on losing streak you can stop it by playing Cairns. Melbourne haven’t been great, they didn’t have to be. Forde looks like he’s lost the group, but it’s not an easy place to do well. I’ve said previously that taipans still have to spend to the cap and some are being well overpaid. Hopefully a better second half.

While United have been dominant, Taipans are playing like they have no self-belief any more.

There's no real sense of desperation or responsibility out there, shooters are hesitant to shoot, and as for tapping out on defensive rebounds ... smh.


Come on, Cairns, make a game of it and keep your fans proud.

MU totally in charge but ONLY 46 pts at the half. and up by 12. With the way Cairns are playing MU should be well over 50+.

At last, a little bit of excitement at end third, come on cairns you can do it.

Cairns finally putting on the pressure and scoring points, but then Forde does some subbing. How to kill momentum fast. SMH

Much better energy and effort from Cairns in the second half.

...after a pretty insipid first half.
United not unbeatable atm, but Cairns came out of the blocks like they still had too much eggnog in them.

That win doesn't make MU look a whole heap better than 3 hours ago, but a win is a win, well played. Shoutout Groves, his best game of the year

Nbl refs are so bad on the charge-block call. Lowery on commentary been fine, Prather on side line good but the other two just rabbit on and certainly aren't in my favourite category.
Goulding so important to Melbourne, not just scoring, just so important when on the floor at both ends. Overall Melbourne won but were average.
Cairns had a dip after half time, Groves very good, Adnam did score a few but not much from anyone else. Edwards has been average all season. Spoon again for Cairns, where to now.

When do Pythons next play the Bandits?

How much longer do the pythons management let this continue ?
I understand they have little they can do now but the only good thing Forde did all night was win 2 challenges . 14 losses in a row with the only shinning light being we play the second last team on New Years Eve . If we lose that game I am unsure where our next win comes from this season . the only players looking like they were making an effort were Tanner and Adnam . There was one point in the second quarter where United got 4 offensive rebounds in a row . Not sure who is getting paid on the team but you are right dunkman some are literally stealing that money . All we get told is that they are all training hard and trying to improve but I cannot see any player on the team who has improved this season .
Is this Fordes last year under contract ?

Yes, Forde out of contract.

As for players, Galloway is contracted, team options on Stith and Adnam, Stattman gets moved up to the main roster, and Higgins-Titsha has a team option to be put on the main roster.

Everyone else out of contract

Higgins-Titsha has been very good as well as Groves, both certainly worth keeping. Which coach of real good pedigree goes there though, it's a grave yard. Forde is clearly responsible the import selection and other than Groves the other two leave a lot to be desired. Imo Edwards would’ve been marched out of a lot clubs. A few players are certainly getting more coin than they deserve.

A classic example of the cliche "a win's a win".

2 hours of my life I'll never get back, but United successfully ended the 4 game losing streak.

Sadly I wonder whether Forde needs to be replaced at the end of this season. That first half by Cairns was totally insipid. Just not the required effort levels for a team desperately trying to salvage something from their season, in front of their home crowd, and fresher than their opponent. Early in the season they were executing well, but they were completely going through the motions last night. Based on that game Forde has lost them, it appears.

Forde's definitely had his successes though. They could've made a championship series a couple of years ago if not for injuries in the semi finals. I guess imports are hit and miss and Taipans dont have the budget for replacements- DJ Hogg was great for example. Edwards just hasnt become what we expected after some impressive showings early on.

But yeah, I felt bad for the Cairns fans watching that first half. They deserve better.

His record is no better than Kelly's before him though, Kelly also had the team one game from the GF and if my memory is correct it was against the great cats side.

Forde has done well with the budget he has.

Cairns are a small market community owned team and when they get injuries they can't bring in high level replacements.

Cairns spent about $800k less than every other team last year.