Taipans blow up the roster, bet on depth

It's been a long and patient wait for Adam Forde since the Taipans' last run to the Finals in NBL23, but the sixth-year coach is confident the club is building a roster that can compete again.

Having finished eighth, tenth and ninth in the past three seasons, Cairns fans are understandably becoming a little impatient. But this year, the Taipans to have renewed energy.

"It's totally different, only a few of the men still remain," Forde said of the Taipans off-season change.

In fact, just four players, Jack McVeigh, Kyrin Galloway, Lloyd McVeigh and Reyne Smith, have been retained from the NBL26 roster, the most turnover of any team in the League.

"We wanted to look at how we could navigate a situation of worst-case scenario, which was a season-ending injury to a marquee-level player, which is what we've been inflicted with the last couple of years," Forde said.

"So the only way to do that right was to keep an import [spot] up our sleeve.

"The only way to do that comfortably is to not only fill out the back end of your bench with playable depth, but it's also important that we recruited high-level marquee talent at the top end.

"So, with Keanu [Pinder], with Jack [McVeigh], with Jaylin Galloway coming in, they're three national-team-representative-calibre players who, in the past, probably would have been the import-level guys that we've looked for.

"Now you add that as well with the guys we brought in to complement that talent, the return of KG [Kyrin Galloway], he's added another level to his game. Reyne's [Smith] come back a year better and more improved. [Shaun] Bruce has had a fantastic NBL1 season and has probably been the most impressive for me in the pre-season.

"I could go through the entire list, to say the level of comfort we have, to say, 'alright, for a rainy day, worst-case scenario, we keep that import spot up our sleeve'. It was important that the depth of talent in our local contingent is there. And that's pretty much what we've been able to do this off-season."

Forde is excited by the addition of two new imports too.

"And now we bring in Jaylon [Brown] and Malique [Lewis] as our two imports to fill out the roster and be the finishing pieces we need to have that balance throughout the whole lineup," he said.

"[I'm] Really happy with how this group looks, how this group's getting along."

Pinder and McVeigh loom as the Taipans' most important stars, but as Forde pointed out, depth is key.

Where previous seasons forced Forde to dig deep into the bench through necessity, this year's depth means minutes will be hard-earned.

The Taipans travel to the Sunshine Coast to take on Brisbane on Saturday evening, and with several players sidelined, fresh faces will get the opportunity to stake their claim.

"Sunday [Dech] will sit this one out as we manage his hamstring. KG [Galloway] will sit this one out too, and he'll be right with his ankle. Brucey's away for a wedding," Forde continued.

"So I've been really happy with the bench group, we've been able to get these guys in early, and I've been really happy with the progression of Brucey, Walt [Brown], Sunday, KG, and Reyne [Smith], what everyone else has been doing.

"This Sunshine Coast game, I want to get a lot of minutes out of Jaylon [Brown], out of Malique [Lewis], and Jack [McVeigh], and Keanu [Pinder], and get them working together a little bit, because they've got some massive strides still to make.

"While I'm happy with the bench, the expectation is I want a little bit more from the starting group."

The Taipans and Bullets face off at 6:30pm on Sunday at the University of Sunshine Coast, live on NBL.com.au and the NBL App.