QBL Transaction: Marlins Sign Tragardh and Loughton
Cairns have made a big splash in QBL offseason by bringing NBL veterans Cameron Tragardh and Alex Loughton into the 2016 squad. Both players were active member for the Cairns Taipans outfit with Loughton averaged 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 21.3 minutes per game while Tragardh averaged 7.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game. BE Take: Losing Matthew Andronicos and Matt Smith was always going to be a tough proposition for the Marlins but they have managed to do a great job replacing them with two NBL veterans in Tragardh and Loughton. Tragardh is one of the most successful players in QBL history, only player to have won multiple QBL MVP’s, multiple U-23 player of the year awards. With Tragardh in his 30’s I expect a different type of player as oppose to the earlier years. Loughton has been a veteran NBL players with international experience, like Tragardh he is in his 30’s too. On paper those two players should be one of the top post combinations in the league.
I highly rated last year’s guards in Nathan Sobey and Corey Maynard. While both are gone from the Marlins outfit, Damon Heuir should be able to step up to that level and you would expect similar things from Anthony Fisher. Cairns have good local talent in guys like Curt Ahwang, Aaron Bin Tahal, James Mitchell, Chris Daniel, add their Taipans guys and one of the best up and coming coaches in the country and you have the makings of championship contender. The problem I see with Cairns is that most of players are contracted to Taipans and that could pose availability issue come playoff time. 2009 is a long time since Cairns last QBL championship and if they can commit to keeping the entire team for the season, they have a good chance to get the championship back to Cairns.
