While other teams scrambled to redevelop their squads in the open market, the Taipans have kept vastly the same roster as the one which made the grand final series a season ago.

Star guard Scottie Wilbekin, who left to pursue his NBA dream, is the only major departure from Cairns’ high flying squad.

But in new import Markel Starks and veteran forward Mark Worthington, the Taipans maintain firepower in their line-up. Hawks skipper Oscar Forman believes it could work to their advantage when the pair meet in the opening round of the NBL campaign on Thursday.

‘‘You could probably argue that Cairns has changed the least out of all teams and that is always a big thing for early on in the year,” he said.

‘‘Teams that have changed the least usually have less issues.

‘‘They are a team that we lost twice two in pre-season and they did very well in the pre-season tournament so they are going to be tough.”

The Taipans’ depth makes them a difficult proposition for opposing teams, regardless of which five are on the floor.

‘‘Like us, they are legitimately 10 deep so they can rotate and hurry players through and play at a high intensity the whole game,” Forman said.

‘‘They will be up and in on us and looking to run the floor.They will be looking to take us out of our stuff and we know what we are going to get from them defensively.

‘‘That is something we are putting out offence in ready for that game.”