In-depth analysis of the QBL Men's Grand Final
How you think each team has performed throughout the season? Anthony Corcoran (Toowoomba) Brisbane have the luxury of having a core group of 7-8 guys who have played together for about 3 or more years now. It seems to me from watching the player interactions they all seem to be on the same page in what is expected (of themselves individually). I find it interesting watching the substitutions and the way the team communicates and interacts with each other – they know what is needed, how to do it and have a high expectation of success. Sure Geoff gets after individual players from time to time but when you watch the reactions, sometimes there is some back talk but mostly it would seem the players know if they are subbed out after a minute why the sub is being made. Brisbane have never been a team for me to extend themselves fully though, they had a great opportunity last weekend to beat Logan by 40+ but settled around the 20+ mark and their intensity dropped off once they realised they had done enough to put the game out of reach. I don’t know if this is a good thing. Sure, beating a team by a good margin is good but they have never been a team to go for the jugular and maximise their potential from what I have seen. I think against good opposition if you had the chance to put the game out of reach, you should (eg Serbia v Australia). I also think if you want to set yourself up for success in a 3 game playoff you should set the bar high and get after it. Cairns are really the surprise package of the grand final when you consider the consistency of the other pool leaders (eg Townsville, Logan, SW) and their results during the year. The 6 regular season games Cairns lost were most likely due to only having Loughton playing or both Tragardh and Loughton not playing. These guys average 31 minutes per game and both make a solid double/double contribution but their team play is also exceptional. They understand the importance of the best shot, not the first shot and being solid on the boards. Damon Heuir has been the big improver for Cairns for me this year and has stepped it up athletically and gone from being a role player to being more of an all-round contribution player, unafraid to shoot the ball or take players to the hole. So whilst Cairns probably weren’t on anyone’s radar early in the year, they are coming together at the right time as a team. Rod Anderson (Townsville) Brisbane and Cairns both were quiet achievers early in the season but really came home with wet sails. We had 15+ point wins over both in the first three rounds but you could tell they were going to hit their straps at some stage. Cairns were hampered with injuries and absence probably more than any team and credit has to go to Coach Pearlman and Damon Heuir for keeping the team winning during that time. What will be the key for Brisbane to win? Anthony Corcoran (Toowoomba) I think Brisbane could win by applying full court pressure on the Cairns guards, wear down Heuir and make the back-up guards handle the ball. If Heuir is kept quiet, not sure how much productive offense would eventuate. Brisbane could look at a zone defense and basically double any big who gets the ball in or near the paint (they do this a lot anyway). This could be a bit risky as Loughton/Tragardh both pass the ball well and will find open players. However this is where Brisbane have an advantage as there communication and rotations defensively generally are pretty sound. Brisbane must box out as the Cairns bigs are better players in the paint than Brisbane. Rod Anderson (Townsville) There is no surprise that Brisbane have to run the Cairns Marlins off the floor to win the series. With the pace that Coach Tarrant employs, its going to be hard for Loughton & Tragardh to keep up especially if it goes three games. The next key is for their hot hands to continue to shoot the way they have in the past month... there was nothing Logan could have done in their semi to stop the Caps when they were shooting like that. Kopcikas, Rychart, Anderson, Davis, Jeffries and Phillips are all capable of shooting in the mid 30 to 40 percent range! What will be the key for Cairns to win? Anthony Corcoran (Toowoomba) Brisbane are a team that can be beaten and for anyone who thinks that the last round game we played against them was thrown by them, I would challenge that. Brisbane were playing for a home semi final so there was something significant at stake. How we beat them was to make sure we met each player on the 3 point line and made them shoot over pressure. We have a couple of long but mobile guys and in that game we kept them to 24 3’s (when they average about 40 per game) and they shot in the 20% range somewhere. They don’t always have a first quarter like they did against Logan last week under good defensive pressure. We also defended the rim fairly well against Brisbane and blocked shots, which made the Brisbane guys think twice about driving to the hoop. On that aspect Cairns need to be very mobile and switch often and consistently on the perimeter to deny Brisbane a chance for a set 3 point shot. The better the look they get, the better their chance at knocking down the shot. Limiting Brisbane to less than 10 made 3’s will help a lot towards winning the game(s). Cairns will need to move the ball well also and attack Brisbane from multiple angles. Rod Anderson (Townsville) Cairns certainly have a mismatch in the paint on offense with Tragardh & Loughton but how those two defend the constant attack of Brisbane is certainly key for the Marlins. Rychart is going to be a handful for Trigger so making the most of their mismatch inside on offense with 2 quality bigs compared to going small and matching up with Brisbane's smaller, more mobile lineup with Loughton at the 5, Daniel at the 4 and Mitchell at the 3 is a delicate balancing act for Coach Pearlman. Daniel's cameo off the bench last week against us was a huge factor for Cairns and cant be overstated. If he steps up like that again, that heavily favours Cairns. What will be the key matchup that will likely determine the championship? Anthony Corcoran (Toowoomba) Anderson v Heuir will be a great matchup although I think the way the defensive strategy will go, there will not necessarily be a lot of one on one matchup of these 2 during the games. Cairns need to stop Anderson’s penetration into the seams and that will require off-ball help often. Rod Anderson (Townsville) There are a number of mouthwatering matchups in this series; Rychart vs Tragardh, Mitchell vs Phillips, Fisher vs Jeffries but the one I am looking forward to watching is Aaron Anderson vs Damon Heuir. Damon is the most underrated player in the QBL in my opinion and should be the Defensive Player of the Year so his effectiveness against Anderson will be massive. When these two teams played early in the year, Anderson went for 21pts on 9/12 shooting and Heuir also had 21 on 8/14 shooting but it was Anderson's team that took the win albeit without Tragardh or Loughton that weekend. Now I'm not sure if Anderson will defend Heuir (I think Phillips will get that assignment) but Damon is averaging 24pts over the last four games and shooting the three at almost 40% so someone had better do a job on him! Who do you think will win? Anthony Corcoran (Toowoomba) I think it will be Cairns Friday night, Brisbane Sat night and Cairns in a close one on Sunday. Experience over young guns (Dusty excluded). Rod Anderson (Townsville) This is a tough one and may cause me to get a few splinters from sitting on the fence but if it goes three games it favours Brisbane; if Cairns can manage to win on Friday night, I think they can win it in two. If Cairns are able to not get caught up in the quick Brisbane game style and execute their half court Flow offense, they wont be stopped. Coach Pearlman has them too well drilled and their experience will be able to execute at crucial times. Can Brisbane finally get over the hump in their 3rd Grand Final in four years and win the South's first title since 2006? I hope not, selfishly, I want to keep the power in the North.
