My projected starters:

Crocs-
5. Allen
4. Holmes
3. Blanchfield
2. Crawford
1. Ervin

Taipans-
5. Loughton
4. Traghardh
3. Hill
2. Gliddon
1. Wilson

As usual the far north derby should be a tough game and I am looking forward to watching it on NBL.TV

Mitch Norton will start in place of Gary Ervin.

The Crocs are only bringing 9 players to Cairns including development player Brendan Teys.

Imports not playing. Irvin arriving today and I think Abney Sunday. Hoping my Crocs can give it a good crack, but without imports, don't hold much luck.

Silver lining for Crocs is that Ben Allen will be a high usage player for one more game, easing his good form into the regular season. The extra touches without the imports will keep his rhythm & confidence up.

He is the key to the Crocs' making a bold stamp on this season.

The silver lining isn't Ben Allen, it's Ben Allen getting big game experience as a high usage player.

He didn't have the luxury that guys like Daniel Johnson have had playing big minutes for a cellar dweller to fast-track their development.

Cairns will win this with the crocs without both imports and Ben Allen and Hinder will have there work cut out tonight with Loughton and Tragardh Cairns by 15 points

Cairns by 20....if their serious !

Taipans -6 paying $1.90. Main risk is that they're a dour, stingy team and could win narrowly. Still, if they mean business, they should handle them comfortably.

Anyone got a black screen with sound on nbl.tv?

Ok how does NBL tv work - all I'm getting are all game - last nights as well - shoeing as 'upcomng'

Opt yeah I got the black screen

Yeah black screen both on iPad and web. Getting audio only atm.

Black screen too

I haven't even got a black screen? Is it supposed to allow me to click somewhere to bring the game up?

Got Picture now on Ipad, but the camera is Horrible! Not smooth and poor quality. Yesterday it didn't work until I deleted the app and tried again and the logo for the hawks Kings game shows Cairns. These bugs need to be fixed!!!!

Reinstalled app and away we go - still can't get pic on tv via adapter though

Good game so far. Nbl TV is perfect quality, hasn't jumped at all yet.

Cam Gliddon. My boy!

Gliddon- not even mentioned in any preseason comments but leads Cairns in minutes so far, including a pull up three after dribbling down the court. Future star.

Gliddon for Rookie of the year. Clint Steindl to be on his heels. i dont see any other rookies even in the conversation!

Had $21 on Cairns by 11+ and $20 on them at the line -5.5. So i now have $100 in my betting account (double my original investment).

Only 1 point for Edwards. Gliddon put up 9 3 pointers. PC didn't make a field goal. Allen with another 15 and 9 game. 19 attempts is pretty crazy though. Townsville seem to be struggling in the guard department, Ervin should help that. 25 rebounds from their big 3, so with Birdman, they should be ok.

Mitch Norton was fantastic. He is also a future star.

Decent result for the Crocs without the two imports. Cairns are a quality team. Mick Cedar and Peter Crawford both had nights to forget.

Ben Allen, Mitch Norton and Russell Hinder having decent games carrying over their pre-season form allows everyone to breathe a little easier I think. Ben Allen didn't shoot it that great from the field but at least he rebounded well.

Cairns' interior defense is very different without Crosswhite. Fearne will need to address that if they want to go far this season. Both rookies look nice - efficient production from both.

Frustrating to watch as a Crocs fan, but at the same time, not a bad result at all for a first round game without two key players.

Add Ervin and Abney to this mix and they have a chance to be a great team. If Abney can average even half of his output from last time he was in the NBL, he will be a welcome addition.

Norton and Hinder were good. Holmes would've shot at 80-90% if he hadn't put up so much junk. Any reason he didn't play when they made their run? Things just working without him? I think Cairns took their foot off the pedal at one point.

Norton is only a teenager. Lots of people don't realise that. He has a bright future indeed. This is pretty much his rookie season since he was injured all year last season and only got on the floor in a couple of games.

Holmes always puts up abrupt, awkward shots that seem jilted in the context of basketball logic and the wider offensive flow of the game. Even the shots that go in are usually rubbish looks haha. I'm constantly amazed he shoots the ball at such a decent percentage given his absurd shot selection.

Three pointer on the fast break when you have no one in front of you on D except a PG and no offensive rbeounders in place? Why not?

Offensive rebound at the free throw line with no defender under the rim? Don't put it on the floor and lay it in uncontested, shoot it from there while moving sideways and backwards! Swish. He consistently defies logic on the offensive end. As long as he keeps rebounding though I don't care.

In fact, I honestly can't remember a single instance of him scoring off a layup in his year in Townsville.

By that same rationale you could say "last night shows why Ben Allen / Cam Tragardh not making the Boomers is a joke". One game -- good or bad -- does not a Boomer make.

The Boomers had a severe lack of outside shooting and addressed that with the final guy on the roster in PC.

Crawford isn't a franchise player like the Crocs' front office sometimes makes him out to be, but he is still the best shooter in the NBL, can play reasonable defense (used to be a great defender by age has slowed him) and can get his shot off against full defensive coverage. That is, he is a game breaker when he gets hot.

Ask him to do too much and he racks up turnovers.

He basically brings the same thing to the Crocs that CJ Bruton brings to the Breakers.