CAIRNS coach Aaron Fearne is not shying away from the blame following his team's fall to last place in the NBL for the first time since 2004.

Fearne has never carried the unwanted wooden spoon tag as an NBL head coach, although was assistant in 2004-05 when they last occupied the cellar.

He said the blame would rest with him, and that it was up to him to fix things.

"Everybody will blame me, that's just the way it is," he said.

"I've got to put guys in positions to be successful, then the players have to execute it. I've got to do a better job of that and if I do that then we'll start playing some better ball."

Despite already sitting in last place, Fearne is aware things could get much worse.

"We've got 14 games to go, so there's plenty to lose," he said.

Having locked in five players until at least next season and the coach himself on contract for two more seasons, he said it was going to be a revealing back half to their campaign.

"We'll see in those 14 games whether we've got the right team to get better," he said.

"I mean, I think we've underachieved, I don't think we have played to our potential. But maybe we have. We'll see in the next 14 games."

The coach snapped at his players during Monday's training session after two minutes of scrimmage that produced no points and plenty of turnovers.

"What is that," he barked.

"It's like street ball, just flipping the ball up and back. It's just like what we've been doing on game night."

He told The Cairns Post after training that he would consider changing the line-up to get the win.

"We've given up 50-plus turnovers and 40 offensive boards in the last two games, you aren't going to beat anyone doing that," he said.

"Whoever is performing is going to play. Shaun (Bruce), (Matt) Andronicos and Jimmy Mitchell have been training well and had a good preseason. We need to get wins, so you play your best."

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