Hoops

Fearne calls out Taipans fans, players

"But when we don't play that type of opponent we don't have that edge. (As to why we don't have) the ability to 'get up' every single time we play, that's too good a question for me to answer."

This quote from the same story is also a real worry. I'm sorry, but it IS a coach's job to find a way to get his players "up" for every game. To say it's too hard a question to answer is an appalling cop-out.

You might not win every game, no one expects that, but if you're sending out a team that isn't "up" for games and doesn't at least look like it's having a go, fans will get restless. A coach who inspires and leads won't have to find a way to ensure his team is "up" for every game, it just will be.

Poor timing with the launch of their season ticket packages for next season. I'm not interested unless they change Fearne.

Haha I'd take offense but you've got to make some effort!

Fake_Name is the worst fake name ever....... Well since anonymous.......

haha the truth is revealed - thanks Issac.

FTW no doubt we probably have more in common then we dont.

End of the day we both want the Taipans to be successful mate.

Thanks for the response Podge, and you do make some good points which I will address later.

Re. crowds. What I was referring to was the fact that, historically, a place like Townsville sold out EVERY game for close to a decade even though the team was at the bottom of the ladder, or close to it, for a large amount of that time.
I agree humans in general are fickle when it comes to supporting teams, but some markets have found it easier to maintain very strong crowd numbers for an extended period even though the team was not performing well. I don't think Cairns falls into this bracket. The crowds seem to fall significantly when the team isn't performing well.

Perhaps you're right Statsheet, that it's the way you lose as opposed to just losing.

as for the crowd numbers - sure everyone lines up for a winning team but i'm pretty sure those incentives have been in the workings for while.

With the exception of a handful of games - even in the loses we've had plenty of effort - 3 seasons ago we went 15-13 and missed the semi's by 3 points on count back and we only had a full roster for 7 whole games that season with injuries to Loughton, Wilson, Crosswhite, Dusty, Bobo, etc.

I dont think Cairns is particularly fickle - humans in general are when it comes to supporting teams. Just take a look at the Hawks ticket numbers.

I agree that the last blow out loss especially didn't help anyone's cause, but it's hardly been blow out after blow out for the past 3 seasons.

Ok FTW, they didn't let me into the boys club, so i had some spare time. To make life easier for you here is my response point for point. Excuse the spelling, I broke my spell check....




Oh, and anonymous does not immediately equate to ignorance.

-- No but it equates a statement not even backed up by a fact pseudonym. I find it hard to put weight behind any comment that comes from someone that couldn’t be bothered to make up a fake name.

I don't know that Aaron Fearne is necessarily a cancer. He knows basketball, that's clear. He's a student of the game, you can tell that by just talking to him about basketball. But as a coach he's stagnated and he's had a very, VERY bad year.

-- No one is saying it hasn’t been a bad year, or last year, but you can’t blame the coach for all of it. Season to season must be taken in context.
If he had stagnated so much how have we won so many games on the road? Obviously there is an issue there, is it the system doesn’t match the roster? Possibly, but when the game plans and systems are executed we win. He’s not a perfect coach and I’m not saying that.

Why he would recruit a combo guard for the second import spot when the team already had Wilson was a head-scratcher, and it hasn't worked. Bringing Wilson off the bench hasn't worked. He struggled to find a starting combination to work. His recruitment of Weigh was a mistake. And his rotations have been pretty deplorable the whole season.
So that's the on-court stuff.

-- Obviously in hindsight they probably wouldn’t have gone down that route. If you were in the know though, you might have an inkling why it happened. Weigh wasn’t a mistake – I disagree with you assessment of his rotations. Despite his offensive woes I think he’s been solid & his numbers are on par with his career. He’s not the shooter Bobo was though, but few are. He’s not as pretty either, but few are.

Off the court, in the past two weeks Fearne has twice publicly criticised the fans - once in his newsletter and again in this piece. He has had a dig at the media and has now publicly called out certain players. Dumb stuff, particularly calling out the fans on the very day the club announces its season membership packages for next season. But there has also been a glaring lack of introspection - and seemingly little if any accountability or responsibility on his behalf.

--sure it ruffled feathers, but I appreciate the candour, I’d be concerned if he wasn’t that passionate. I can understand why you’d take umbrage with it, but I don’t.

As far as recruitment goes, Fearne has also fallen into the trap that a lot of other coaches have fallen into - bringing guys in thinking he's the one to turn their career around. He thought he could turn Brad Hill into a player and now he's done the same with Weigh (who is contracted for next season as well). Weigh, like Hill, is incredibly inconsistent and will never reach the "potential" that has been placed on him.

-- I don’t think you can put them into the same box, far from it. I also think you fail to recognise the limitations that salary cap have on who can be recruited. I think Weigh was a solid buy and but I don’t think he’s at his ceiling. His further development will be a key to the team’s success.

The other big thing that Fearne struggles with is being able to inspire his players. In this piece he dismisses a head coach's role in this area, but it's so true. Phil Jackson has been brought up in this thread - do you honestly think he didn't inspire his players?

-- All coaches work and inspire differently, from Popovitch, to McLoead, to Denzel Washington. I don’t think Fearne being able to ‘inspire’ them is the issue. Not all coaches deliver an Al Pacino before each game.
He was constantly finding ways to motivate them. It's also interesting that Fearne brings up leadership in this piece, because IT IS a head coach's role to be the ultimate leader, and to be a good leader you need a certain charisma to allow those around you to be inspired enough to follow your orders. Fearne just doesn't have that personality.

-- Unless you’ve been in the change room, been to all the practices and spoken to the players; I don’t think you can make that call. From what I’ve witnessed and heard from players past and present his personality or charisma isn’t the issue. Admittedly, if his RSVP profile came up in your news feed you’d probably click next – but I think he’d be ok with that.

As a club Cairns - basically since the grand final season of 2010-11 - has gone backwards both on and off the court. Key personnel have left the front office and the club has started to again alienate itself from its community (not the other way around), due mainly to its own arrogance.

-- club made its first operating profit last year and the clubs been advising the NBL, other clubs and emerging clubs on how to build a successful community model.

It's almost a mirror image to what happened in the O'Brien days. There is a feeling in the community that there is a "boys club" running the show - from the board to Beecroft and Fearne. Board members and a CEO who just want to be seen as big-hitters in Cairns (ie. driven by ego), rather than having the club's best interest at heart.

-- oh really? Given that they do everything on the smell on an oily rag I’d hardly compare the 2 eras. As for the ‘boys club’ you do realise that the board etc is voted on by 150+ foundation members? That anyone can be a part of – even as a syndicate. Sure you can fool some of the people some of the time but 150? They’re held accountable every AGM.

Change is desperately needed for the club to rid itself of this perception (or reality). The club needs to again re-engage with its community properly, like it was doing around 2010-11 - and there's more to it than just doing school visits (although that's something I'll give the club credit for - their So You Think You Can Play? and Tiny Taipans etc programs are brilliant).

-- agree what they do off the court is brilliant. Given that they have a set in stone number of hours the team has to spend engaged in community service, I couldn’t disagree with you more. They’re at all kinds of community events (generally you just have to ring the office and they’ll organise someone), they do hospital vists, visit’s to the cape etc etc. There’s a disabled boy at the Edge Café who got a visit from a Taipan the other day – I’d hardly call that dis-engaged.

One thing the Taipans have done on the court in the past couple of years that has been positive is trying to build a team around young guys like Gliddon, Steindl and Young. I give Fearne a heap of praise for this approach. However, if Gliddon and Steindl walk after this season because they don't like the system, coach, whatever - then what's the point? I hope they stay with Cairns, but if I'm Gliddon and Perth, for example, comes calling, why do I stay with Cairns?

-- agree that the rookies have been positive. Apart from Clint not getting a lot of court time last year (because Bobo was in fine form and Clint still had some development), I don’t see why’d they would go anywhere else – unless it’s money. Gliddon especially has been given massive opportunities by Fearne and has flourished. Whether they like the guy or not – I don’t know I haven’t read their diaries. I know that they’d have a rude awakening if they played under Gleeson……

All in all, despite the fact Fearne is still contracted the Taipans need to cut him loose. He's run his race. They face (are already facing) a backlash in the community and Cairns (more so than Townsville or Wollongong) is a very hard sell. As we saw after the O'Brien debacle, it takes a very, very long time to win back both supporters and sponsors if you're not treating them right. And at the moment, it doesn't seem like they are. Financially, they can't affort not to pay out Fearne.

-- They can’t afford not to pay him out? So we pay him out, where to we get the money from to sign another coach? New coach means rebuilding again from scratch. Where do you get the money from to pay for the new coach? What are the guarantee’s that the new coach will be better? You want Brian Gorjian – you gonna have to pay for Brian Gorgain!

But nothing WILL happen, because for positive change to occur it's not just Fearne who should be chopped, and the siege mentality is well and truly alive already.

-- I think a couple of roster changes and another season of development under their belts we’ll be better next season. Re-signing the young guns, bringing in an import wing or big man, etc.
My argument isn’t if the board will or won’t sack Fearne – they don’t ask for my advice, but I think it’s very unlikely and I don’t agree it’s the right thing to do.
I think the personal attacks on his integrity and the integrity of everyone involved in the Taipans organisation is pathetic. They aren’t perfect and they’ll be the first to admit they’d do some things differently.
I’m not a ‘Fearne fanboi’, just a basketball nerd who doesn’t like hyperbole getting in the way of facts. People who have forgotten more about basketball than we’d ever know rate Fearne and think it’s RIDICULOUS that people are talking about sacking him – I’m happy to side with them. I find it distasteful the language and innuendo that people throw around, some of which have been throwing around since he was first signed as coach (simply because they just didn’t like the guy).

As for the off the court stuff the comparisons with previous years are grossly erroneous. They are accountable not only to the foundation members, to the NBL, but to the council who check their books every year. They have KPI’s they need to achieve every year outside of the financial aspects – e.g. community work etc. It is a learning process? I’m sure it is. Every year they have been increasing the work they do.
Will they be better for the experience for next year? No doubt.
I’ve had business dealings with many different eras of the Taipans and I find the current organisation excellent to work with – that’s my experience, not 3rd hand, not 4th hand, actual experience. Suggesting there is some form of corruption keeping Fearne in his job is plain offensive.

One simple example of the supporter base. The year they made the grand final there were literally people lining up down Aumuller St to buy season memberships for the following season.

This year they're offering a $10,000 prize incentive, and price freeze on membership packages, (and I'm not being critical of those things, it is what it is) to get people to renew their memberships.

busted! I am Aaron Fearne...... damnit.... if only I'd spent more time working on my game plan instead of wasting time on this site:)


FTW check out some of the discussion here: http://www.hoops.com.au/forum/33784-sydney-kings-at-cairns-taipans-28rnd-1929/#p459785

I'm happy to answer any questions that I didn't answer there.

Let us remain civil - it's only a game after all.

@Statsheet Stuffer. What I'm saying is Cairns is a harder sell than Townsville and Wollongong as far as engaging and maintaining their supporter base - not as a place where players might come to play.
Cairns is, and always has been, a traditionally more fickle supporter base than those other two clubs. Yes, those two clubs are struggling to get crowds atm, but Cairns people love a winner and historically are not really patient if their team isn't going well.

@Podge, yeah, I guess you could say I am in the know. Thanks for recognising that. Any time you actually want to provide some substance as to what you think Fearne brings to the club moving forward and what answers you have as to turning things around, I'll happily debate it with you.

Sorry Issac I've responded to it before, I don't have the stamina to post it all again.

Agree 100% about the core comment, off the top of my head I think Alex is the only Taipan remaining from the GF team? I could be wrong but i'm having a mind blank.
I think the most important part of the Hawks/Perth/Breakers (even now) cores is they have some key anchor vets in their cores. 36er's aren't too far away either.

FTW - 'do yo research son.'

Well i guess you are in the know.

Sometimes i think it's Fearne posting these Anonymous comments just to have a troll and a laugh..... well maybe not a laugh, just a wry smirk

Thanks for confirming what I suspected Podge. Nothing of substance to add.

Mystro - wasn't he something like 36-59 after his first handful of seasons?

think he ended up on something like 60 wins, 90 losses at the end of his tenure (5 seasons? can't remember) - mind you it included 3 championships.

Nothing wrong with Fearne speaking up. Plenty of people called for Lemanis to get the sack when wins weren't forthcoming and plenty more when he had the talent on paper to get it done and he still didn't quite get there.
They all stfu when it did all come together tho.

I find your use of caps compelling, tell me more.

go back and look at every one of my posts - you'll find your answers there champ.

FYI FTW RE the Boys Clubs is just innuendo and silly gossip. I'm not going to dignify it with a .......

@King Podge
So why not try to respond to my "inane rant"? Use some of that evidence you demand to refute what I've said. Just try. I'm actually interested to see if you're just a fanboi or whether you do actually have something of substance to offer.

seriously though, debate, especially passionate debate is positive. It's the generalizations, strawman arguments, erroneous accusations, hyperbole and lack of a connection to reality that some commentators have i have the problem with.

I too have a problem with my connection to reality - but that's more to do with what size jeans i can fit into, not my basketball observations.

hahaha see keep that up and you might just make the Christmas card list SS!

FYI all my Christmas cards this year will include a photo of Fearne:)

FTW - shout down and belittle? brother, I aint shouting or belittling. Challenging people's opinions - esp by Anon's who post ridiculous things without any evidence - aint shouting down and belittling.

Take Statsheet Stuffer for example - I dont agree with him on much but we've managed to have a discussion about basketball without devolving to yo mumma slagging matches, well.. mostly.

I could take an hour to respond to your inane rant sorry that was belittling wasn't it DAMNIT maybe you are right).... But I'm going to try and get an invite into this 'boys club' you talk about. Sounds like fun - wonder if they serve sandwiches.

@King Podge, you say those who know the least are the loudest, yet it seems to be you who just tries to shout down and belittle others who don't agree with you without actually providing any real commentary on what you think should happen (if anything) to make the Taipans successful.
Oh, and anonymous does not immediately equate to ignorance.

I don't know that Aaron Fearne is necessarily a cancer. He knows basketball, that's clear. He's a student of the game, you can tell that by just talking to him about basketball. But as a coach he's stagnated and he's had a very, VERY bad year.
Why he would recruit a combo guard for the second import spot when the team already had Wilson was a head-scratcher, and it hasn't worked. Bringing Wilson off the bench hasn't worked. He struggled to find a starting combination to work. His recruitment of Weigh was a mistake. And his rotations have been pretty deplorable the whole season.
So that's the on-court stuff.
Off the court, in the past two weeks Fearne has twice publicly criticised the fans - once in his newsletter and again in this piece. He has had a dig at the media and has now publicly called out certain players. Dumb stuff, particularly calling out the fans on the very day the club announces its season membership packages for next season. But there has also been a glaring lack of introspection - and seemingly little if any accountability or responsibility on his behalf.

As far as recruitment goes, Fearne has also fallen into the trap that a lot of other coaches have fallen into - bringing guys in thinking he's the one to turn their career around. He thought he could turn Brad Hill into a player and now he's done the same with Weigh (who is contracted for next season as well). Weigh, like Hill, is incredibly inconsistent and will never reach the "potential" that has been placed on him.

The other big thing that Fearne struggles with is being able to inspire his players. In this piece he dismisses a head coach's role in this area, but it's so true. Phil Jackson has been brought up in this thread - do you honestly think he didn't inspire his players? He was constantly finding ways to motivate them. It's also interesting that Fearne brings up leadership in this piece, because IT IS a head coach's role to be the ultimate leader, and to be a good leader you need a certain charisma to allow those around you to be inspired enough to follow your orders. Fearne just doesn't have that personality.

As a club Cairns - basically since the grand final season of 2010-11 - has gone backwards both on and off the court. Key personnel have left the front office and the club has started to again alienate itself from its community (not the other way around), due mainly to its own arrogance. It's almost a mirror image to what happened in the O'Brien days. There is a feeling in the community that there is a "boys club" running the show - from the board to Beecroft and Fearne. Board members and a CEO who just want to be seen as big-hitters in Cairns (ie. driven by ego), rather than having the club's best interest at heart. Change is desperately needed for the club to rid itself of this perception (or reality). The club needs to again re-engage with its community properly, like it was doing around 2010-11 - and there's more to it than just doing school visits (although that's something I'll give the club credit for - their So You Think You Can Play? and Tiny Taipans etc programs are brilliant).

One thing the Taipans have done on the court in the past couple of years that has been positive is trying to build a team around young guys like Gliddon, Steindl and Young. I give Fearne a heap of praise for this approach. However, if Gliddon and Steindl walk after this season because they don't like the system, coach, whatever - then what's the point? I hope they stay with Cairns, but if I'm Gliddon and Perth, for example, comes calling, why do I stay with Cairns?

All in all, despite the fact Fearne is still contracted the Taipans need to cut him loose. He's run his race. They face (are already facing) a backlash in the community and Cairns (more so than Townsville or Wollongong) is a very hard sell. As we saw after the O'Brien debacle, it takes a very, very long time to win back both supporters and sponsors if you're not treating them right. And at the moment, it doesn't seem like they are. Financially, they can't affort not to pay out Fearne.

But nothing WILL happen, because for positive change to occur it's not just Fearne who should be chopped, and the siege mentality is well and truly alive already.

Gordie and Fearne have almost identical win/loss %.

Given that both coach teams tight with their salary caps - I think that tells a bigger story. Under any definition of the term I don't see how u can call Fearne a 'cancer'.

But at least we agree on Timms/Heal and that Weigh - despite his shooting slump- has been solid all season., especially off the bench.

Agree with proud, Fearne is the cancer.
A quality coach will respond with victories (see Gordie), not whingeing to the press. It's the coach's job to make sure players are playing with the intensity level they need to.

Also agree with King Podge, "Still not convinced that Shane Heal isn't Michelle Timms though"

Camel31 pull your head in, still trying to hate on Weigh. He's the only Taipan playing with a high level of intensity every week.

Loughton needs to step up most. But going by his Take40 article during the week he just seems pretty comfortable (and dare I say complacent) about his situation in Cairns.

GTS - solid grape vine.

Before the season started I thought Perth would make the grand final and play Cairns/Melbourne...

Fast forward a couple of months roughly 30 January and Cairns beat Perth in Perth (I think in over time) and I turned to my mate beside me and said "Cairns will play us in the grand final this year"

I'm not sure the plane has landed yet from Perth as Cairns has done absolutely diddly squat since.

Trigger is a loss but they are über talented squad and they will be better next season if they can keep their team together... But I don't think we will see Fearne coach in this league after this season.

He is cancerous

Zing! Another bombshell! Close to folding now!!

Well played anon 460155, well played.

Agree Paul - and it's normally the loudest who know the least.

*sigh* another quality comment brought to you by Anonymous - a name synonymous with quality....

Aaron Fearne isn't Phil Jackson? Outstanding observation.

Still not convinced that Shane Heal isn't Michelle Timms though

......................weigh is opposed to fair play,he wants it all and he wants it his way,and when he sees his reflection he's fulfilled,but his brain has been mismanaged with great skill. Well, there's a woman, on my block, she'll just sit there facing the hill, she says ; " WHO!
take away his licence to kill."

Occasions where a coach blasting a fan base can improve a club's circumstances:
EFFING NIL.