Forde Goes Cross Country

By Dan Woods - NBL Media

Cairns’ 2021-22 season was disappointing to say the least. After bursting out of the gates with two wins in their first three games, the Taipans slumped to a record of nine wins and 19 losses to finish the season second from bottom.

Such a season always provides time to reflect, and head coach Adam Forde has been the first to admit the campaign put together by his side last season was “embarrassing”.

The off-season gives players and coaches with the opportunity to relax ahead of yet another gruelling campaign, Forde took his off-season to the next level with an impromptu cross-country drive.

Adam Forde's trusty set of wheels for his trip of reflection across the country.

“I just needed to decompress from the season and our very active and robust off-season. I flew back to Perth because the 'misso' wanted to check in with family. We had a car sitting in the garage there and I thought ‘I’ll drive it back’,” Forde told The Huddle.

“I just jumped into the car, fuelled it up and hit the road. I spent nine days driving across the country with no real game plan other than I wanted to get from Perth to Cairns. It was good, just a man and his thoughts.

Adam Forde takes in the scenery during his cross-country road trip.

“We went the south route, so across the Nullabor and past the Great Bight. Once we hit Port Augusta, went up through the west part of New South Wales. It was when all the floods were hitting Queensland, so I zig-zagged my way up, hit every random small-town bakery I could and finally made it in the end. When I say ‘we’, I mean me, myself and I.

“It was purely opportunistic chances to sleep and shower, eat terribly and hopefully survive the trip … it was a good little decompress moment and a bit of meditation while hitting the Nullabor straight.”