Round 1: Taipans v JackJumpers

CQUniversity Cairns Taipans @ Tasmania JackJumpers, 6:30pm AEST (MyState Bank Arena)

• Watch on ESPN via Kayo Sports or Foxtel
• Watch together at the Reef Hotel Casino (Official Away Games Watch Venue)

TAIPANS TICKETS | NBL LIVE STATS

Energetic. Youthful. Athletic.

These have been the common words to describe the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans line-up this year, with Head Coach Adam Forde playing a heavy hand in assembling this unique group. With niggling injuries and minutes restrictions during the NBL Blitz – the team’s only pre-season opportunities – the Taipans are yet to demonstrate what they’ve been working on behind closed Cairns Basketball doors.

LAST MEETING

The Taipans start their 2022-23 season against the team they finished their NBL Blitz campaign against – the JackJumpers. The memorable match-up could be defined as “experimental,” with Tahjere McCall taking the clipboard (his head coaching record currently sits at 0-1) and under Fordey’s direction, rotating deep into the bench. DJ Hogg showed glimpses of his diverse skillset, scoring 24 points in 26 minutes as Sam Waardenburg, Bul Kuol and Mirko Djeric used the opportunity to ease into the competition.

Meanwhile - after stumbling in the first two games, Ben Ayre was back to his best with 26 points, five boards, two assists and new point guard Shannon Scott was efficient in his short court time with 10 points, two steals and two assists. Young guns Josh Davey (DP) and Gabe Hadley (TP) played big minutes to gain further experience in their prepartion to fight for court time during the regular season.  

LINE-UP

New Taipans forward Lat Mayen did not travel with the team for their first road trip, as he recovers from a moderate ankle sprain sustained at training. He is expected to be fully fit ahead of Round 3. Development player Josh Davey will replace him. In a late out,  Jonah Antonio tweaked his ankle at game day shootaround (right lateral ankle sprain) and won't suit up tonight, but should make his NBL debut next round.

LOOK FOR

The new Taipans – finally. It can only be assumed that it was by design that the NBL Blitz gave virtually zero indication of what the Taipans line-ups will look like this year, what combinations we can expect to see on court and exactly what these exciting players are capable of. Tonight’s game will be the first time the Taipans put a group on the floor that will reveal what’s in store for the season ahead.

LATEST WORDS

Adam Forde on the JackJumpers:

“They’re a high energy team, and if we are trying to be something similar in terms of effort, energy, desire and hustle – they are the benchmark in the league. It’s important we go down to their place with a mindset to match and try to better their effort levels. They’re going to go hard on their home court in front of their crowd, so it’s important we’re switched on from the get-go.”

Adam Forde on the pre-season:

“The Blitz was good, we got everything we wanted out of it. There was a lot of off court stuff we wanted to manage and get through and the guys were elite. The level of maturity of this group went up another level. I know results-wise no, but the reality is we didn’t play everybody, and we were fairly vanilla on the offence side of things.

In the first two games, we had four players out, who are main rotation guys. Shannon was on minutes plans for the entire Blitz, same with DJ, who didn’t play the first game. But it gave us the chance to play the back end of our bench. We’ve got guys that will be fighting for minutes this season.”

Bul Kuol on the group:

“We’re feeling good, there’s a lot of excitement. The Blitz didn’t really show what we can do, it gave us a bit of a taste, but we had so many guys out and different guys playing different kinds of minutes. Even I’m playing a different role this year, so I got to test out a couple of things and see how teams are guarding me now. Last year, nobody really knew about me, so it took a while for them to coach me out on the three-point line. But this year - they’re already on top of it.”