Great weather and low cost of living more like. He can live well up here with a young family.

Pretty sure he's just swooping on the vacancy that will appear in about 6-7 months

Cairns are lucky to have him.

I'm not convinced that either this guy or Pearlman would be a shoe in for the head coach position if and when it ever comes up.

"Good coach and I guess happy to be up the pecking in order instead of one of 5 asst coaches in Perth. or is that 6 ;)"

Didn't he come in as the lead assistant originally? Then get replaced?

https://thewest.com.au/sport/basketball/wildcats-in-world-class-hands-ng-ya-256018

yes he did. then got demoted down to video before leaving

Smart guy he gives the Taipans a close look at him this season as a potential replacement if Fearne gets the boot in six months time.

There are no rumours aside from this being his last contract year.

O'Loughlin's got a great rep, and his involvement with the emerging Boomers squad could be a boon when it comes to future recruitment.

If Taipans make the top 4 again what are the chances of Fearne being given anaother 2/3 year contract?

CT, I know more than a few o/s organisations have been scouting him for years.

Anything can happen though, who knows.

Fearne has the job forever.This new guy is dreaming if thinks he will go further in Cairns.
We can only pray someone else makes him an offer as he is unsackable,as history has proven.

"Fearne has the job forever.This new guy is dreaming if thinks he will go further in Cairns"

The new guy got sacked from Wildcats and was looking for a new job, cut him some slack, he isn't trying to take anyone's job, just find a new one. Geordie left because the money wasn't there and he is willing to work for peanuts.

I can appreciate the grind-his-players-into-the-ground reputation as one reason, but why would Cairns fans gripe much about Fearne? He's pretty consistently got decent results, especially given budget and need to recruit people to a regional area.

It's a minority. Longevity, especially in a small city, with small city politics and small city mentalities, grows the hater bandwagon. Happens all the time, happened to Geordie in the Gong, even happens to legends like Wayne Bennett in the NRL. It's amazing how small the hater grape vine is, and how many times I hear different people parroting the same flawed analysis or rumors.

Some of it also comes from the incredibly dumb Skip Bayless narrative that has infected our culture: 'if you don't win everything regardless, you're an unsuccessful loser'... That narrative is more than often pushed by folks who couldn't win a chicken raffle at a one person bingo night.

(i don't include my learned fellow Taipans fans on this forum, who I have been known to disagree with, in the above. While I don't agree with them, at least they make an attempt to support their critics with facts.)

My fav hater moment was from a couple of years past where some suggested replacing Fearne with Shane Heal...... when I regained consciousness they had already left.

The proceeding season saw Fearne win coach of the year.

I'm always hearing that he should be replaced with Pearlman or that Downer should be brought back because they're nice to the players. But you know what? assistant coaches can afford to be nice guys. Any player coming into the Taipans would know what Fearne's all about and how he gets results.

If and when Fearne ever leaves I honestly think the Taipans are in for 2 or 3 years in the wilderness unless his replacement has the same recruitment networks and a coaching philosophy that compliments the way the Taipans organisation is run.

Anon, Fearne isn't there for your tinder date..........

and you've obviously had nothing to do with the man, or see how much time he spends coaching juniors on his own dime...

"He hasn't won a ring so he should be nicer!" - put that in the hall of fame.

CT - nothing but net. 100%

That press release really reads like the guy was head coach of Perth!

Anon, yeah, no. You should have quit after your first dumb comment.

Anon #645955 - i thought Nielsen was pretty well received by everyone? If nothing else he's got plenty of experience to pass on to younger guys.

haha don't stop anon, keep going.

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt."

nope, I'm defending him like he's the coach of a basketball team, not someone who I'm asking to prom.

Best of luck with yours though.

Fearne could continue to coach the Snakes into the future, with no fear of being sacked any time, soon.

My understanding is he is pursuing NCAA coaching gigs, and that may be why a head coach position in Cairns may be coming up for grabs.

I still think Downer has the front running, and would love to see Wortho in the job in 5 to 6 years time.

Fearne is an ex Taipan. Pearlman is ex Canberra. Nothing wrong with recruiting ex-players, especially ones who are personally and emotionally invested in the team and the city. Nobody would suggest Wortho's anywhere near ready for a coaching gig yet but give him a few more years with the Dolphins or similar, some work coaching juniors, let him earn an AC job on merit and then maybe it's a conversation worth having given his character and passion for winning. 5-6 years may be optimistic but not entirely unreasonable.

"Nielsen coming in was such nepotism, 'oh look at this ex player his wife wants to be in Perth so he has to be here let's give him a job' with no coaching credentials. Hate the whole ex-player name = gets a coaching gig easily routine."

Timeline off Nielsen's wiki page: During the 2013-14 NBL season, Nielsen served as a big-man coach for the Perth Wildcats. In 2014, Nielsen joined the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff in a player development role, on a contract that ran through to the end of the 2015 NBA Summer League. On 29 July 2015, Nielsen returned to the Perth Wildcats, signing with the club as an assistant coach for the 2015–16 NBL season.

I wouldn't say they exactly just gave him a job as an assistant for no reason. Brought him in in a mentor type role initially with his experience, then he spent a couple of years with the Spurs. I think bringing him on as an assistant then seems fairly justified.

"Wow two seasons as mentor/34903930th assitant then gets a gig over others with way more years of experience. It's the ex-player syndrome at work."

I'd normally agree with you, I too do hate the idea of an ex player getting a gig in coaching with little to no experience (eg: in the AFL Buckley at Collingwood, Hird at Essendon, Voss at Brisbane). Even Gaze with Sydney.

There's no doubt Nielsen being an ex player helped him get his foot in the door, but he wasn't just brought in straight away to be the Cats head coach or something. Experience as a player, spent a year mentoring with the Wildcats, couple of years in a development role with the Spurs, then the Cats bring him on as an ASSISTANT with other good coaches around him. I've only ever heard good things about him. They obviously see something in him and like him to bring him on and keep him around. And like the other anon said, how much success have they had with him in their staff the last few years?

In all honesty, I'd hire a ferret if it had spent time on the spurs coaching team.

Nielson is eminently qualified.

Reckon Wortho will make a good coach down the track, he's got a good basketball brain.

And CT, Pearl is an ex-Taipan too ;) Great to see him stay on in Cairns and work his way through the ranks. Ripping bloke.

I'm glad i have nothing to do with any NBL team either, the money is horrible..

.... reading an comprehension aren't your strengths are they....

Let me spell it out for you:

The Spurs - the NBA's most consistently successful franchise - aren't in the business of hiring bums.

hahaha dude.

"Good job King Podge. Glad you have nothing to do with any nbl team. Oh its Nielsen btw. No wonder you like Fearne. Cats will always have success. It's certainly nothing to do with Neilsen being there that's for sure. Ask J.O."

This is amazing. It's like an intercepted coded message in a cold-war era spy novel.

The pig is in the poke. I repeat, the pig is in the poke.

It does make more sense when you translate it back to the original Russian:


Хорошая работа King Podge. Рад, что вы не имеете никакого отношения к какой-либо команде nbl. О, это Нильсен кстати. Неудивительно, что вам нравится Fearne. Кошки всегда будут иметь успех. Это, безусловно, не имеет никакого отношения к тому, чтобы Нильсен был там, это точно. Задать вопрос J.O

This anon seems like the human equivalent of pond scum

Ask J.O? How bout you ask the players and see who they prefer! Simple fact, Nielsen got to the players and related to them far better than J.O. He had his shot and got fired after underperforming.

Coaching is about a lot more than Xs and Os.

"I'm not owned! I'm not owned!!", I continue to insist as I slowly shrink and transform into a corn cob

Goddamnit champ...

In its simplest form, basketball is a team sport where the members of said team spend a lot of time together. It seems the Wildcats coaching staff is/has been full of fat/geeky-looking middle-aged white guys. Matt Nielsen could have come in as a refreshing/relatable voice. Athletes can be weird people who are hard to get along with. Gotta keep the peace.

So... an ex-player can provide a different -- in a good way -- vibe for an organisation. Maybe thats why they hired him. Maybe the reason he stuck around is because he has the skill set to become a good coach.

Recruiting from within is always good for an organisation's culture

Well, mostly

Whoever posted above using my name... wasn't me.

Good luck to him, very sharp minded coach and also has a great relationship with Jawai, so looking forward to a decent year from the Taipans.

Cairn's gain will be Perth's loss I feel...