Adnam Sidelined Early in the Pre-Season

The final Cairns recruit and floor general Kyle Adnam has been sidelined early in the pre-season, after an unfortunate incident at training dislocated his kneecap. The NBL veteran is expected to sit out the next four weeks, but the Taipans coaching staff are hopeful for his return at the 2024 NBL Blitz.

Only arriving in Cairns a few weeks ago, Adnam has been actively involved with all the club's activities - including a team trip to Crystal Cascades and the Cairns Festival Parade - and remains confident on how his recovery is tracking.

“The knee is improving really well. There’s no major damage which is awesome, so now it’s just about getting the swelling down and making sure that I strengthen it back up and am ready to go. But I’ll definitely be back in orange in no time,” Adnam said.

Whilst Adnam is optimistic for a return at the NBL Blitz on the Gold Coast next month, the injury has allowed him to learn his teammate’s behaviours from a new perspective.

“You always look for the positives in something, and this gives me a chance to observe, to see how guys catch the ball and other mannerisms. Just certain things that are going on during a game, that as a point guard really helps me with my game,” Adnam explained.

The point guard moves to the Far North with 217 games of NBL experience under his belt, comfortably making him the most experienced member on a squad where only one other player has passed the 50-game milestone in the league – Kyrin Galloway who currently sits on 97 games.

Given his experience in the NBL, it allows Adnam to maintain a strong presence in the team from the sideline, and whilst Taipans Head Coach Forde doesn’t want to burden him with extra pressure, he is happy to allow Adnam to share his experiences with the young roster.

“He has a huge resource of experience that he can actually reflect onto some of the younger fellas, a few life lessons, so he’s invaluable,” said Coach Forde.

“I just want it to happen naturally and organically. If he feels comfortable while travelling at the airport, and he’s sitting in the Qantas Lounge, and he’s starting to open up to Taran or KG about it, by all means.”

Watching from the sideline, Adnam has been very impressed by the early signs that he’s seen, particularly during “Hell Week” where the squad has been pushed to their limits by the coaching staff.

“This week has been really good. This has been a super competitive week where everyone’s gotten after it, everyone’s been really disciplined and organised, and it’s been really amazing,” Adnam said.

“The thing that I’m most impressed with has probably just been how the chemistry has sort of built this quickly and this early, and it’s been a credit to the coaching staff in what they’ve been able to do and making sure that they’ve put good people on the floor.”

While he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself, Coach Forde is also impressed by what he’s seen across their time on court.

“There’s a real business-like mentality with this group - Taran, Sam and Jonah really drive that. There’s a bit of a breakfast club going on where we start our day at 8:20am, but you’ve got guys filtering in at 6:45am and they’re working out, and they’re staying afterwards to shoot. It’s early days, but I’m really liking that mindset,” said Coach Forde.

The Cairns Taipans’ season opens in Perth at HoopsFest on Saturday 21 September against the Illawarra Hawks, shortly followed by their home opener on Saturday 28 against the Adelaide 36ers at the Cairns Convention Centre.

Tickets are now available from tickets.taipans.com, and memberships are still available from orangearmy.com.au.