Oakley backs Taipans model
FORMER Taipan Kane Oakley says everything that can be done to save the Taipans must be done now if Cairns' only national sporting team is not to be lost.
Oakley, a bustling forward/centre for the Taipans and Cairns Marlins, is back in the Far North after a two-year absence but scotched rumours he would play again with either team. He said it would be incredibly disappointing to see the Taipans disappear.
"You probably wouldn’t get the opportunity again," he said. "Especially the way they’re trying to position the new league and make it a bit of a Super League, you probably won’t get that chance again.
"So, any chance you do get to keep a national sporting team up here ,you’ve got to do what you can to do it."
Oakley is back in Cairns as the new owner of Eagle Boys’ Westcourt franchise and while his playing days are now behind him, he remains a passionate supporter of the Taipans and the community model the club is trying to resurrect.
"When I found out about them (the club’s troubles) I was very disappointed," he said. "I’d already bought the business and Eagle Boys used to be a sponsor of the Taipans and I wanted to get back into that and have that affiliation again. But when I found out it was going into administration, it was very disappointing."
But with the Save the Taipans committee and president Denis Donaghy pushing towards a community ownership and involvement model, Oakley was positive that good times were ahead.
"It seems like ‘DD’ (Donaghy) is doing the right things and he’s getting the right structure behind it to push it back into the community-owned sort of club," he said.
"The way it was when I first came up here when players were out in the community doing promotions, doing sponsorship deals at schools, just getting out in the community and being a community-based club."
Oakley is qualified to talk about the community-based model having been Cairns’ Aussie Hoops co-ordinator before he left the Far North.
The job involved going to schools to run clinics, as well as his own "Kane Train" holiday camps.
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Back in town: Former Taipan Kayne Oakley has returned to the Far North and has vowed his support for the Taipans - but only from the sideline.
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