Tigers by 10. Goulding is in hot form lately and Wortho will over power Loughton.

In Melbourne can't go past the tigers. Melb by 11.

So did anyone load up?

lol'd at worthingtons half time interview.

Goulding may have done his shoulder again...

Not sure whether that game makes the Wildcats win over Cairns look better or worse.

Time for a new coach and Sanders Cairns!

They really need to flick McCamey quick smart. According to Cairns media, Fearne said he wants to keep this group for the remainder of the season. Hopefully this weekend has made him realise it is time to get the scissors out and make some cuts!

Melbourne still looking good. Im surprised no one has been able to contain goulding lately he has been shooting the lights out. Wortho had a slow game but made some good defensive plays and did some little things to help get them the win. Another great game this weekend. i love the parity in the league this season(with Perth being the exception) so many close games

Gliddon played great D on Goulding. Goulding's just too hot.

Statsheet, there was nothing wrong with this weekend, running two very good teams close on the road. It is the home losses that have the Taipans where they are at the moment. That Adelaide capitulation was very poor, without that theyd be 3-4 after four road games.

There's no point changing the team, nothing wrong with talent, theyve got to fix the crinks and I think theyve made some progress towards that this weekend. Need to win their four-game home stand now.

Close isn't good enough when you hold a 15-point lead with 5 mins to go in the 3rd. The nightmares from last season are still there where they couldn't hold a sizable lead if their lives depended on it. How you can go from shooting the lights out to flat out simply not even getting shots off for the next 10 minutes of the game baffles me. Weigh kills momentum when he comes on, Fearne should leave him off when we go on runs and Jamar/Loughton make some clumsy turnovers at the worst times. So frustrating watching this team play.

I can acknowledge Goulding is just simply unstoppable but there were times there that Melbourne went for quickfire dagger points that didn't go down and the Taipans had the opportunity to build their lead back only to fall over and give the ball back to the Tigers.

Paul, you are just flat out wrong in my opinion.

I really don't want to talk about it, but I'll say this:

Northern Brew is right about the execution going to shit. How does that happen?

Also, you can literally see a difference in players' body language multiple times throughout the game. You can see they don't give 100% for near the full game, can't you?

The group does not like each other. Can you see that also? What is the galvanising agent when you talk about a team's morale? To me, it's the coach. The guy who is giving them orders.

Fearne and McCamey need to go. I've talked with a very reliable source saying Fearne is an asshole of a person and does not treat his players with respect. Why did they not make playoffs last season with the talent they had? They were up with Adelaide--probably more so than Adelaide--in the talent stakes for god's sake.

Regarding McCamey, what you need is someone who actually cares about playing professional basketball.

Adelaide werent that talented last year, middle of the league, so yes Cairns probably had similar or slightly better talent.

I agree they havent played hard enough this season, but I didnt think that was the case this weekend.

I havent got a lot of issues with their offence (except they crash the o-boards too often leaving the backdoor open), it is their defence that has been the issue, and that was good on the weekend, they just couldnt stop Goulding - no one can.

Paul, the Taipans were the third most talented last season for mine. Their offense is pretty good, apart from patches where they don't try to make things happen and just coast thinking the game is over. I implore you to go back and watch a replay of last night's game and take notes on every possession about where the ball goes from point to point. Literally the majority of the second half we were swinging it around the perimeter without any vigour, let alone random cuts and flashes. So there actually is a problem with our offense.

Defense just speaks for itself. It's about effort and we don't have any at numerous times throughout games.

I agree with Paul's comments that the effort this weekend was good and the home losses are what has really cost the Taipans so far this season, particularly the loss to Adelaide. However, I also think Northern Brew's two posts were spot on.

The Taipans have always been more susceptible in games on the road but for the first 3 seasons Fearne was coach, the home record was very good and more often than not, they would find a way to win the close games. For some reason this went out the window last season and, as Northern Brew has pointed out, we couldn't hold onto a sizeable lead if our lives depended on it and that pattern seems to be repeating this season. There is a problem somewhere and it was there last season.

Statsheet Stuffer's comment about the players not liking each other surprise me, as I wouldn't have thought this was the case but his comment about Fearne not having the respect of the players I can believe. Fearne is old school and I think man management is his weak point.

I think part of the problem is the fact that Fearne has a lot of depth in the squad and tends to spread the minutes, which can mean some players find it difficult to get into a rhythm. It also means if they make a mistake they can be replaced at the drop of a hat and Fearne doesn't hesitate to do this at times, which has to be unsettling. Fearne is a very tense person and I think this also rubs off on the players when they are under pressure. This season and last, we have been very ordinary under pressure and both seasons we have also had the most depth we have ever had.

The effort is not spot on though. It simply is not there all the time. Can we not see that?

^ agree Fearne likes to sub people when they get hot. I'm guessing he doesn't want anyone's ego getting out of control. But that's Cairns problem, they've got superstar talent but no superstar because their coach is holding them all back.

I agree re Fearne seeming to coach better with less depth. It was good to see Shaun Bruce benched for the weekend, there is no need for him to play more than a couple of minutes if at all.

To put it simply, the Taipans have played well in the four games Gliddon has played and not well in the other three. Had he had reasonable shooting nights last weekend, instead of hitting 2/14 from deep, they prob get one or both of those games.

Four-game home stand coming up against Woll, Perth, Townsville and Adelaide. I think after that we'll have a much better idea of where they stand.