New season, new Taipans: The big boy pants are on but so is the pressure

• The Cairns Taipans signed 2024 NBL Championship hero Jack McVeigh as their marquee
• They also announced sharpshooter Reyne Smith, former NBA forward Admiral Schofield and a bunch of other key signings
• Adam Forde has returned as coach after previously deciding to step away at the end of last season

Well, the Cairns Taipans have finally put their big boy pants on.

The team from the Far North has been considered the 'little brothers' amongst the NBL ever since they stepped onto an NBL court for the first time in 1999. Suiting up rosters which have been towards the cheapest in the league for the 26 seasons of their existence - maybe apart from a period where they were able to attract the likes of Darnell Mee, Martin Cattalini and Stephen Black to Cairns - the Taipans have punched above their weight for so long.

Making the playoffs nine times and reaching the NBL Championship Series twice in 2011 and 2015, a deep Taipans run in the playoffs is usually considered a bit of a fairytale.

The resources, or lack thereof, coach Adam Forde and the Cairns hierarchy have had to play with is shown by the club sitting 10th in both cash and cap spend for the past two seasons, according to ESPN. Both seasons, the Taipans were more than $1.5 million behind the first-placed Perth Wildcats in total cash spend.

But all that has changed and with Forde returning to the sidelines up north, the vision is clear. The Cairns Taipans are here to win championships.

The cobwebs which previously filled the empty wallets of Cairns management, have been dusted off. During free agency, Taipans president Troy Stone said big things were coming and boy, was he right.

Gone are the days where the Taipans were almost treated as a development system for new imports and elite talents in the NBL who have gone on to bigger-budget teams or even powerhouse clubs in Europe or the NBA.

From when the likes of Torrey Craig, Scottie Wilbekin and the previously unknown Bul Kuol got their start in Cairns to later become NBA journeymen, stars of European basketball and earning a mega contract with the Sydney Kings. The list goes on and on.

It was a trend that was even acknowledged by Kings part-owner and now assistant coach Andrew Bogut on the commentary last season.

The Taipans are now in the business of attracting world-class and already established talents to their club. And nothing showed that more then when Cairns made the ultimate free agency statement by signing 2024 NBL Championship hero and Australian Boomers forward Jack McVeigh, in a move that shocked people around the league. Even more shocking were the reports McVeigh's signature came with a $1 million per season price tag.

Add former Louisville sharpshooter Reyne Smith to the mix on top of former NBA forward Admiral Schofield, American point guard Ashton Hagans, rising Australian talent Mawot Mag from BYU and also import big man Marcus Lee to fill up the back-up centre position - who were all announced this week by the Taipans and none of them come cheap - the Taipans are not only championship contenders now but they are on a rapid rise up the expenditure list.

The Taipans are going for it, it's out there for everyone to see and what a breath of fresh air that is - they aren't hiding anything. Good on them.

But with that comes pressure. Make no doubt about it, gone are the days of the 'we are a low budget team' excuse if they don't perform and at least make the playoffs. Hell, even just making the playoffs may not be good enough for the star-studded group they've put together.

The expectations for Forde's team are at an all-time high.

Cairns aren't sneaking up on anyone this year, like they did in season 2022-23 when they took eventual champions the Sydney Kings to three games in the semi-finals series in Forde's second season in charge. Or when they did in 2019-20 under Mike Kelly when Scott Machado, DJ Newbill and Cameron Oliver led the Taipans to a three-game series against another championship team in the Perth Wildcats.

The league is prepared for the Taipans this season and just competing and playing an exciting brand of basketball won't fly with fans, commentators and even Cairns management this season. Just like the Wildcats, Kings, Melbourne United and now the Illawarra Hawks - nothing but competing and winning a championship matters.

In the past, that hasn't been the case - although it should be, regardless of what a team's budget is.

Forde is the ultimate competitor, so this isn't a reflection on him and we all can't wait to see what he can do with this revamped roster, but in the past two seasons where the Taipans have won 12 games in 2023-24 and eight in an injury-riddled 2024-25 season, it seems like the narrative around the league is those performances were OK and not disastrous. They showed signs during the season despite all the adversity they faced but the NBL ladder doesn't have a column for 'Good Signs'.

Yes, they hardly played a game with their full roster last season, but we tend to give them an out with being "unlucky" instead of asking why so many players missed significant portions of the season and putting the focus on the high performance side of the club.

That will all change this upcoming season. Everything will be put under the spotlight. The Taipans have the resources to jump from lightweight to NBL heavyweight, it's a new era for the club and one that is extremely exciting for their fans and the league. But no more excuses, the time to win a championship is now.

The big boy pants are on, it's just whether the Taipans can fill them.