OUTCLAWED BY WILDCATS
TAIPANS LEFT ON A FINALS TIGHTROPE
THE raucous Perth Arena will hold no fears for the travelling Cairns Taipans on Monday night with many of the Snakes squad once calling the region home.
The Snakes, who represent the North of Queensland, have a distinct sandgroper flavour in their squad with as many as seven players once living or playing in Western Australia.
Former Wildcats Nate Jawai, Stephen Weigh and Alex Loughton all were once supported by the famous red army in their playing days and know exactly what it is like to be supported by the boisterous fans.
Taipans starters Mark Worthington and Cameron Gliddon have never played for the seven-time NBL champs but were born in Western Australia. The connection between the Far North club and the west of Australia does not stop there with development players Tevin Jackson and Anthony Fisher also previously holding the same title at the Wildcats.
Jackson is also West Australian-born and is the son of coach Craig Jackson, a legend of the SBL competition in Western Australia.
In contrast, the Wildcats just have one West Australianborn player, reserve small forward Greg Hire.
Wildcats swing man Jesse Wagstaff said he was looking forward to playing against his former teammate Jawai.
“We all know him very well, he is a great player,” Wagstaff said.
“He is just another one of the Taipans we need to stop.”
Worthington, in the final days of his career after announcing his retirement, was asked before game one if the West Australian influence could help in game two in Perth. “I could not give a damn about game two, to tell the truth,” Worthington said.
“We will deal with that when we get to it.”
Taipans coach Aaron Fearne said his squad had a “next five minutes’’ mentality.
“We do not focus on each game, we just talk about the next five minutes,” Fearne said
“When the first 40 minutes of the first game is over, or maybe more as we have seen this year, we will then look to game two.”