How the champ coveted playing for Australia

BULLETS coach Andrej Lemanis knows what it means for Alex Loughton to represent Australia.

Lemanis, who mentors Brisbane in the NBL and Australian Boomers, has coached against retiring Snake Loughton for a decade but a conversation in China last year gave the experienced coach a special insight into the forward.

The Cairns captain was a late call-up for the NBL AllAustralian team to tour China in 2018, moving heaven and earth to be available for the three-game series.

“‘When I was a youngster I got called up to the Boomers squad. I thought I did pretty well in training camp and made it through to the final 16 before being cut’,” Lemanis says Loughton told him on the China tour.

“He just thought he would make the next team but the next opportunity never came for him.

“That is how fleeting it can be.

“For him to continue to hold that desire, it is pretty impressive for him to go on an All-Australian tour because he understands how fleeting it is and how much he valued it.

“It was nice to see how much it meant to Alex to represent his country.”

The 35-year-old Loughton is the second most capped player in the club’s history and played in both of the Taipans’ grand final campaigns.

Three of Cairns’ five wins for the season have now come against Brisbane.

On their second defeat in the Far North this season, Lemanis felt his side was anxious on Saturday.

“We had an opportunity to take care of business and we weren’t able to get that done,’’ Lemanis said.

“It’s just interesting with the shooting percentages, perhaps there’s an anxiousness about us.

“Understanding the magnitude of the game and what the result was... I’ve never seen us miss so many lay-ups.

“In the first half we created some opportunities.”