The Taipans won the dead rubber against a woeful Adelaide 36ers side on Friday night but would be bleeding about dropping the game to Sydney the previous week.

A win would have more than likely landed them a playoff birth. They beat Adelaide without Crosswhite and Loughton which shows how much disarray that southern franchise is in.

Why they haven't changed coach yet is beyond me and they've just officially won their second straight wooden spoon.

To win in the major leagues you need a coach who can get the job done and they still have one year left of this clown (Marty Clarke).

The Taipans, however, think they have their man by inking Aaron Fearne to a new three-year deal. Fearney has been a revelation in the big man's shoes and would certainly have been on other clubs' radars.

Being a long time local and lover of Cairns he stayed loyal to the cause and thinks he's not far off taking this team to the promised land. I would love to see that!

Our FNQ rivals Townsville have snuck into fourth spot and I hope they can make a splash. All signs, however, are pointing to a Perth vs New Zealand series with the Kiwis holding the trump card with the home court advantage.

It should be a fun playoff series and good luck to TV coach Paul Woolpert and his troops. Also well done to the Taipans as finishing one game out of the post season when you only spend three quarters of the salary cap is certainly no disgrace.

The Taipans passed on the baton to the AFL on Saturday where history was made with Greater Western Sydney making their long awaited debut.

The script went a bit better for the debutants than most people expected as they were more competitive than Gold Coast last year and avoided a 100 + point hammering.

With the experienced coaches they have and the amazing amount of lottery concessions they also have coming up, don't be surprised to see this newcomer a force to be reckoned with very quickly.

The AFL are desperate to grab some market share in the rich rugby world of Sydney's west and are throwing some serious cash at GWS to get it.

When Andrew Demetriou (AFL CEO) stated at the season launch that this was not an attack on Rugby League you could see his nose instantly growing. Let's see what happens and if this club can one day stand financially on its own two feet.

With the AFL season proper here and basketball finals as well, I love this time of year!

Also don't forget to tune in to Radio Port Douglas 90.9 fm between 9am and 11am Saturday where Kez, Roy and I will be interviewing a former Collingwood Captain.

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