Hoops

Aaron Fearne now Assistant coach with Charlotte 49ers

....and maybe that becomes THE option for NBA recruitment. Aaron recruits you to Cairns, Brisbane poach and develope you, NBA pounces and Adel sue for damages (that's a LOL!).

Reading the Taipans topic re Craig and Trice and felt like adding some thoughts re Aaron Fearne here.

Since the Trice signing to the NBA it occured to me that Fearne seems to be an excellent recruiter of overseas talent but can't work out how to best use them.

1st he recruited Torey Craig then Trice, who both went from Cairns to Brisbane and then to the NBA.

Do we heap shit for not getting more from these rising stars or praise to buggery for recognizing and recruiting great potential talent? Even saw Egwu in the TBT (The Basketball Tournament).

Maybe Fearne for GM of Recruitment for some well-healed club then turn his choices over to the Coach. Guess we all have something to offer.

Yes I heard they still attend all Tigers SEABL games at MSAC. So legit.

& he & Margaret still go to every home game & Margaret still makes sandwiches on game night.

If he started playing for them at 18 years of age then that would put it at 50 years at the club.

Yes, he played for them from the 50s. Quite an amazing run. Easy to see why he was perturbed when some upstart kicked them out of the NBL

Did he play for them also before becoming coach?

Yes Zodiac I am well aware Tigers entered NBL in 1984 and L Gaze predates that year. But I did state NBL not other leagues.

I just checked and yes Lindsay Gaze was the coach of the Melbourne Tigers from 1970-2005.

Pretty sure both of the Gaze's especially Lindsay were at the Tigers longer than that but that includes time before the Tigers entered the NBL.

That should be 1993-1997.

He was team manager for the 1992-1997 period.

kr my memory agrees with you re: Ellis but I think there was a gap. Refer to wiki:

As player:
1982–1992 Perth Wildcats
As coach:
1998–2003 Perth Wildcats (asst.)
2003–2004 Perth Wildcats

Although 1992-1998 he was in front office from memory? The original filter included only players/coaches but exective position is fair enough.

Oh yeah, another player then assistant then head coach (albeit briefly). Thanks.

Mike Ellis started with the Wildcats in 1982 and departed in 2004, which bests even the Gazes.

Fearne was a player then an assistant and latterly the head coach at Taipans since 1999. 1999-2018 is remarkable in the NBL. Is this a record for longest tenure at a club out of all coaches and players in NBL history outside of the Gazes at Tigers (1984-2005)?

Fearne did well for Cairns despite the lack of big budgets.

Best example of that was 2 seasons ago when they were projected to finish last and finished 2nd where Sydney and Melbourne were projected #1 and #2 and didn't make the playoffs.

good on him, hope he does well

Big loss to the cairns community. A lot of talent coming out of that region atm.

i have started a tipping comp on the afl.com.au site and im chasing numbers the code is SX8R2YUH47 to join