Aaron Grabau played 405 games with the Cairns Taipans, was the only player to be a part of both the team’s inaugural roster in 1999 and the teams first NBL Finals appearance (2011).
He became a Taipans legend and to date is the only player to have his jersey retired by the club (twice, which you’ll hear about on the show) and he joins Dan Boyce on this episode to go discuss his career as well as the first 15 years of the Cairns Taipans in the NBL.
Grabau takes us those first few years of the franchise where winning was a surprise benefit, to the success achieved under coaches Alan Black and Aaron Fearne.
We revisit the Taipans visit to the 2011 NBL Finals where they finish one game short of becoming NBL champions and get his take on some of the greatest Taipans players of all time.
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Grabau’s resume also includes five state league championships, three ABA National Championships, two ABA National Championship MVP awards, all with the Cairns Marlins.
Grabau finished his career as the Taipans all-time leader in games played, rebounds and steals and second in all-time points scored.
He averaged 7 points and 3 rebounds over 418 NBL games and today works as a member of the Cairns Police Force.
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Topics include;
- Retiring in 2013 and Joining the police force how being a part of the Taipans prepared him for his second career (2:00)
- A rookie season with the Geelong Supercats (6:00)
- The Cairns Taipans enter the NBL in 1999 (9:00)
- The Taipans debut season and its 0-7 start and the first win in Taipans history (11:30)
- The Taipan’s roster for that inaugural season and how the losses impacted the team (15:00)
- The Taipans make the playoffs in 2004 and success begins in Cairns (16:30)
- Alan Black joins the team as coach and the team recruits Darnell Mee, Martin Cattalini, Nathan Jawai (19:00)
- Comparing the coaching styles of Rod Popp, Guy Molloy, Alan Black and Aaron Fearne (20:00)
- Nate Jawai as a young player (24:30)
- Aaron Grabau’s prime years during 2004-07 (26:00)
- The Taipans disintegrate and fall into voluntary administration (27:30)
- The impact of Darnell Mee in Cairns (30:00)
- Players Aaron looked up to growing up (32:00)
- The Taipans reach the NBL Finals in 2011 (33:00)
- Losing good players to other NBL clubs, what toll does that take on players and the club (36:00)
- What led to his decision to retire (37:30)
- The story behind Grabau’s jersey retirement and how he came to be retired by the club twice (39:00)
- The teams and players he loved playing against the most (40:30)
- The best Cairns Taipans players in team history (44:00)
- The highlights and lessons of Aaron’s career (46:00)
All of this and a whole lot more…
