Confident and poised to strike as regular season begins

WHAT’S UP Cairns! Secondyear Taipan, first-time columnist.

It’s been what seems like a massive build-up for the first game of the regular season, following a pretty interesting journey for our group throughout the pre-season.

If there’s one thing I can confirm, the time and effort has been put in. We’ve got guys coming off busy off-seasons with various teams, all bringing back a little extra to their game.

That confidence is some- thing I’ve enjoyed seeing – anybody at any time is ready to step up and contribute.

While this year’s Blitz might not have been as successful in the win column compared to previous years, we really learnt a lot about each other and worked towards building our identity as a group.

It’s a shame to see Mike Carrera go down at this point, but we are grateful it’s not something worse.

He’s a warrior, and I’m sure he will be back on-floor as soon as he gets the opportunity.

In the meantime, we welcome Jerry Evans Jr to the squad. He’s genuinely so pumped to join the Taipans and can’t wait to show everyone what he’s got tonight. And here we are.

This weekend will be a great test for us right out of the gates.

First-up is Illawarra, who have again been very strong throughout the pre-season.

While their roster has had a few changes, expect the Hawks to stay true to their style of play, aggressive with a capital A.

After Game 1, we travel over to the Land of the Long White Cloud for our second clash of the weekend against the Breakers. Having spent some time around Auckland and members of the Breakers this off-season, I know exactly how ready they will be for this Sunday afternoon’s showdown.

Expect a very physical battle between the two teams.

Looking forward to seeing everybody at the game tonight. Go Taipans!