CAIRNS coach Aaron Fearne is all too aware how important winning matches against top-four rivals will be in the hunt for the finals race.
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The post-season might be three months away, but already there seems to be a clear quartet of teams vying for the last two finals spots.
With Melbourne and Perth locking down the top-two, Fearne believes his Taipans will have to fight it out with Illawarra, Adelaide and New Zealand for the remaining spots.
It was why he was pleased to see Cairns never give in despite trailing by 19 points at three quarter time in Friday’s 96-88 loss to the Hawks.
“At least we did fightback [in the fourth quarter] because it will come down to some series for sure,” Fearne said.
“Us, Illawarra, Adelaide, New Zealand, probably all of those teams will be around the mark so I think being able to fightback into that [is important] and basically the series is pretty much squared up so that helps.”
Cairns won their opener against the Hawks and looked a chance to make it 2-0 when they held a six point half time lead. But the visitors were blown away in the third term and eventually were unable to bridge the gap in the fourth quarter.
“It is disappointing,” Fearne said.
“We had a pretty good first half on their home court.
“You need to come out and be really strong. It is like what happened in New Zealand.
“We just came out, lose focus and that edge then get run over.
“But we showed really good fight tonight and gave ourselves a chance of getting the win.”
