QBL Mens Grand Final Preview
Brisbane Capitals vs Cairns Marlins
The Gist
Two teams that deserve to be in the Grand Final given their performances in the latter part of the season and the playoffs. Brisbane should send a thank you letter to the Serbian team that signed Mirko Djeric for hosting finals. Despite saying that they still deserved to be in the top two, given their roster and standout performance during the semi finals against. Aaron Anderson has been phenomenal this season and Dusty Rychart is the QBL version of Tim Duncan. Got a deep squad of run and gun players. Cairns has one of the best starting lineups in the competition and despite injuries and absences, they have been huge lately, disposing of Mackay and Townsville (twice). Tragardh has been vintage since his return for injury and alongside with Alex Loughton they form the league’s best frontcourt. Key Matchups
Damon Heuir / Aaron Anderson
Both players are vital clogs to their team engines. Anderson is lighting quick, can score at will and is multidimensional player (can rebound, pass and defend). Heuir has improved a lot this season and that shows on his scoring numbers. Brisbane need to disrupt Heuir flow on offense. Fisher and Mitchell have been impressive but their backup guards (Curt Ahwang, Aaron Bin Tahal) haven't contributed consistently. If Cairns can stop Anderson, they have other weapons in the arsenal (Jeffries, Kopcikas, Phillips, Davis) but out of all of them Anderson is the most reliable
Cameron Tragardh / Dusty Rychart
Amongst my favourite players in the QBL, these two players have vast experience that will come in handy come crunch time. Rychart doesnt demand the ball like he used to, but knows how to use it efficiently. Tragardh got cut by the Taipans and has been on a rampage ever since. Given Loughton will have a distinct advantage against Loughton it will be up to Rychart to make sure one of Cairns bigs are limited, otherwise it could be a short series
X-Factor While Tom Malloy wont set the world on fire with his offense, he will be counted to provide quality relief minutes to limit either Tragardh’ or Loughton, especially in defensive end of things Chris Daniel made a huge contribution against Townsville and given Cairns lack of a bench, Daniel is a key to support Cairns frontcourt.
Prediction
Really tough to predict, Brisbane can run and gun and if they can shoot anywhere near close to the first quarter of Logan, there arent many teams around that can stop that sort of shooting. But at that same time Cairns can slow down the game and grind the Capitals with their bigs. Three games its can be a tough series for an away team so Brisbane should have the upper hand if it goes to 3, but if Cairns can win the all important Game 1, Cairns should win it at 2. Cairns
