How to watch & talking points: Cairns v Adelaide (Round 3, NBL26)

Thursday, October 2, 2025

cairns taipans

adelaide 36ers

Watch the matchup between two of the competition's million-dollar men, Jack McVeigh and Bryce Cotton.

Cairns Taipans v Adelaide 36ers
Thursday, October 2, 7.30pm AEST
Cairns Convention Centre

How to watch‍

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Talking points

Million-dollar men face off
‍Both Jack McVeigh and Bryce Cotton have started the season in tremendous fashion, highlighted by the five-time MVP putting up 39-points for his Adelaide debut. McVeigh on the other hand helped lead the Taipans to an impressive 2-0 in Round 2, finishing with a near triple-double against the Bullets.

While they won’t match up against each other, both superstars will be relied upon to step up and take over the game when required. ‍

A fresh Andrew Andrews
‍Give credit where it’s due, because the Taipans newest signing AndrewAndrews was thrown into the fire on Friday night, having been in the country for less than 48 hours. It was a tough first up performance for Andrews, who battled severe cramps across both games, yet he still found a way to be highly productive.

With a chance to rest up and get more acclimated before Thursday night, Andrews might just be ready to let loose.

What they're saying

Adam Forde on high expectations

"When you've got two guys who've played in the NBA and someone's making a million bucks and Drew (Andrews) is coming in and has played in every professional European league, and done really well.

"Then you've got (Sam) Waardenburg who's scheduled to come back in, you're not tricking anyone thinking that these guys aren’t extremely good athletes and professionals.

"They're top of their game and I won't trick them by thinking we're underdogs, but we'll use it in the sense of 'F everybody' and it's us versus the world.

"But to sit here and think that we're the Cairns of before, no no no, we've spent what the big city clubs are. Now the expectation is that you've got to perform and the boys did this weekend."

Mike Wells on Nick Rakocevic debut
‍“We’ll just have to see. We’ve got a chance to see how he feels after the long flight.

“If he’s comfortable and there’s no injury risk, then he’ll play. If not, we’ll wait until we get back home.”

Depth charts

Cairns
‍Projected depth chart:
PG: Andrews (IP) / Adnam
SG: Smith / Stattmann / L.McVeigh (DP)
SF: Schofield (IP) / Higgins-Titsha / Mag
PF: J.McVeigh / Galloway / Richardson (DP)
C: Lee (IP)

Adelaide
‍Potential depth chart:
PG: Cotton / White / Rasmussen
SG: Vasiljevic / Harris / Brogan (DP)
SF: Cameron / Kenyon / D.Manyang (DP)
PF: Cheatham (IP) / Rakocevic (IP) / M.Manyang (DP)
C: Humphries / Jones (NRP)