How to watch & talking points: Cairns v SE Melbourne

31 Dec 2025

cairns taipans

south east melbourne phoenix

South East Melbourne will look to return to the winner's circle on New Year's Eve against a dangerous Cairns Taipans side, in an Ignite Cup fixture.

Cairns Taipans (10th) v South East Melbourne Phoenix (4th)
Wednesday, December 31, 8pm AEDT
Cairns Conventiona Centre

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Talking points

Can Cairns flip history?
The last thing the Taipans went to face before entering the new year is the South East Melbourne Phoenix, because the first two matchups these teams had didn’t end well for Cairns.

It started with a 37-point loss in the season opener and then followed up with an 11-point loss in Round 9 before the FIBA break.

If the Taipans want to flip history, they need to look after the ball, having committed 19 turnovers in both those losses.

Phoenix's response
South East Melbourne was riding high on a three-game win streak before losing a tight contest to Tasmania on Monday.

That loss, combined with Sydney's win, has seen them drop to fourth on the ladder.

It's imperative that Josh King's side, who hold a 13-8 all-time record over Cairns, bounce back against the Taipans and continue to press for a top two spot.

What they're saying

Taipans coach Adam Forde on the positives to take from their loss to Adelaide:
‍“I thought we had a lot of great looks that didn’t drop for us. There’s areas we obviously want to get better at offensively, but even at the foul line we [didn’t capitalise]. There were good looks on the perimeter that generally we would back these guys to shoot it and go in.

"But Adelaide is just a really talented team. There were lapses and momentum swings that we self-inflicted from turnovers and fouls that Adelaide were able to [punish].

"The margin got out to double-digits, we were able to bring it back to six points and it felt like we were in touch. But our margin of error had to be pretty small and with too many self-inflicted wounds and shots not falling, Adelaide had so many weapons to exploit it.”

Phoenix coach Josh King on what his team need to improve on in Cairns:
"I just told the guys in the locker room that I'm really pleased with the effort to come back and I would expect our guys to do that, that's what we're about.

"But I just feel like if we could have found a way to start playing better a littler earlier we would have found a way to win the game, but we had good looks and had the right guys shooting them.

"It's a really unselfish team and now we've gotta move on, because we have a travel day tomorrow and we play again in less than 48 hours."