Fatherhood, Brotherhood, 47: McVeigh Rewrites Taipans History

Jack McVeigh didn’t just have a career-high night on Friday, he put a Taipans milestone into the history books and did it in the most McVeigh way possible.

Tough shots, tough angles and a scorer’s roar that had the Orange Army locked in on every possession.

In his 200th NBL appearance, McVeigh torched the New Zealand Breakers for a career-best 47 points in a gripping 99-95 win, producing the best scoring performance for the Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans in the league’s 40-minute era.

He did it with ruthless efficiency — 16-21 from the field, 6-8 from three and a perfect 9-9 at the free throw line, with eight rebounds and three assists — a full-statline reminder that when McVeigh gets rolling, the game bends around him.

47 breaks the club’s previous 40-minute-era high of 42, set by Tahjere McCall in the final round of the 2021-22 season against Brisbane.

It also nudged McVeigh to within touching distance of one of the great Taipans folklore lines, Martin Cattalini’s club record 51 from a 48-minute game back in 2006.

Yet the story of McVeigh’s night wasn’t just the scoreboard, it was the way he explained it afterwards.

“I’ve been working on my bag for as long as I can remember,” McVeigh said.

“For the majority of my career I have been a play finisher. I will either run into on-ball [screens] or get plays run for me with three seconds left on the shot clock. I came here [to Cairns] and the amount of reps I get in training and in the game helps me improve at such a rapid rate, when I put in those hours of work.

"Every day I feel like I’m getting better at basketball, faster than I ever have. I get to come out here tonight and just get more reps to get even better.”

The former Houston Rocket was hunting mismatches all night with intent, creating his own looks and living comfortably with the ball in his hands.

And then there’s the life perspective. 

McVeigh recently welcomed his first child, a baby boy, and is now a first-time dad.

“To be honest I’ve been sleeping pretty well,” he joked. 

“A lot of people talk about becoming a new dad and seeing him for the first time changes your whole perspective on life. It sounds a little corny but to be honest I feel like I felt that way five years ago about my wife and that's been the escalation of my basketball improvement.

“Obviously I loved my son as soon as I saw him. But [in terms of] taking the pressure away from the game, I’ve already felt and I feel like I’m in a good spot. My wife's been amazing, always helping me while I’m prioritising basketball.”

There’s also the daily edge he gets at home and at training — alongside his brother and Taipans teammate, Lloyd.

“We get after it,” McVeigh said. “Everyday, we make sure we’re the first ones in there. We’re playing one on one. We’re competing. We go home, we talk about hoops.

“We come in everyday and we’re hunting. We want to be the best. That iron on iron each off-season for the last three years. Especially now that he’s older, because before that there was a lot of beating him down. He’s hit that age now where we truly compete.

“You talking about living the dream, we’ve been playing backyard one on one’s since as long as we can remember and now I get paid to come into work and play the same backyard one on one’s and call it development.”

Fatherhood at home, brotherhood at work and 47 points carved into Taipans lore.

‍The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans return to the Cairns Convention Centre to host SEM Phoenix in Round 15 for the New Year's Eve matchup at 6:30pm AEST. Grab your tickets HERE.‍