President's Update: June 2021

To our valued sponsors and members,

Well, that closes a chapter on another season, and one that we won’t fast forget. Without trying to sound like a broken record, I do want to thank you again for all your patience and loyalty throughout all the ups and downs over the past 18 months. Our club is stronger for your support, and we know that next season will inevitably be bigger, better and back at the Convention Centre. The future for the Taipans is really bright, even with the adversity that we have experienced, and this off-season will be another important one for the front office.   

Of course, you would have seen the recent news that Mike Kelly has been released from the final year of his contract. These decisions are never easy, and it’s one of the harder ones the Board has ever had to make. Sports is a notoriously tough industry, and these roles are performance-driven. We are, in fact, a performance-driven business, and on-court results are what hold us all to account. At the start of this year, one of our major objectives was to continue the momentum from 2019-20 where we made the play-offs and came just one game shy of a Grand Finals appearance. We invested heavily to ensure that our player roster was as consistent as possible, to support that objective. This season’s results have been the opposite of that, and we haven’t performed as Championship-quality contenders. Mike Kelly is a class act, and we absolutely acknowledge his contributions to our club. We are sad to see him go, but there is no doubt he will still be involved in the NBL in the future.

Another parting this season was Cam Oliver returning to the US to support Alecia during a difficult pregnancy, which we were happy to facilitate. Family comes first! This also allowed Cam to make himself available for any NBA opportunities - which he grabbed with both hands, and the Taipans organisation are so proud of his performances with the Houston Rockets across four games. For clarity, he still very much remains contracted to the Taipans for the 2021-22 season; but he does have a release clause should he receive an NBA offer.

In regard to this year’s annual awards evening - due to a number of factors (including COVID-19) a delayed season, quick turnaround for next season and player availability; we won’t be able to host our traditional event this year. A number of our players have committed to winter competitions and with the shortened off-season, they need to leave quickly to fulfil those contracts. We wish all our guys the best of luck over the next few months – Kenny, Ngatai, Hunt (NZNBL)  Krslovic, Blagojevic, Dufulmeier (NBL1) and closer to home, Djeric and Deng (NBL1 North).

In its place, we will instead host a grander season launch gala to start next season. We are excited about this new event and the chance to launch our next NBL campaign in style. Dates, venue and ticket sales will be announced closer to the start of 2021-22, which isn’t far away! Memberships will also be available very soon (next month) and we are extremely pleased to announce a PRICE FREEZE on all categories (from 2019-20) at the renovated and upgraded Cairns Convention Centre, so be sure to get in early to lock in the best seats.

Until next time,

Troy Stone
CQUniversity Cairns Taipans President