Forde's "brutal" warning: 'Perform or lose your job'

Cairns Taipans coach Adam Forde hopes Saturday’s 37-point loss to South East Melbourne is the wake-up call his side need ahead of this week’s home-opener.

During an interview at the Cairns Convention Centre on Monday, Forde explained how five players ‘fell well short’ of his expectations and only three ‘played to their potential’, while warning of job losses during a ‘brutally honest’ finger-pointing session.

“If a plumber, a chef, a labourer don’t do their job, they’re going to lose their job and that’s what these guys sometimes have to realise,” Forde told the media.

“I shouldn't have to tell someone who gets paid to do this job to perform in a certain manner.

“This is a results driven industry, and what we did on the weekend was not good enough.”

Forde went on to say while the team are emphasising accountability this week at training ahead of Friday’s Round 2 clash with Brisbane, they won’t be ‘overcorrecting’ just yet.

“In terms of the plan and preparation, maybe we underestimated some things which we should have put a little bit more attention to detail,” the NBL23 Coach of the Year said.

Cairns will be without star big man Sam Waardenburg (ankle) for the first state rivalry of the Hungry Jack’s NBL26 season, but are hoping new import Andrew Andrews will line up for the squad soon.

Watch the fixture from 7.30pm AEST on Friday, via ESPN.

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