The trait that has Forde sold on Galloway

Jaylin Galloway’s Cairns Taipans debut could hardly have gone better, with the 23-year-old producing a match-winning display that left coach Adam Forde impressed by both his immediate impact and the quiet intensity he brings.

Landing a player who already has three NBL championships to his name, along with Boomers and NBA experience, was a significant coup for the Taipans, and Galloway showed exactly why first-up on Sunday.

Having missed the first eight games of NBL27 with a shoulder injury, he made his presence felt straight away against the New Zealand Breakers, scoring 7 points in each of the first two quarters.

He finished with 18 points and 6 assists on 7/11 shooting, including 3/5 from beyond the arc, across 26:32 of court time. The Taipans were +11 with him on the floor in the 86-84 win, which lifted them to a 5-4 record.

“He probably was the only one really giving us something at the back end of that first quarter to keep us in touch,” Forde said.

“When we subbed him out, the game got out to eight, nine points and then he helped bring it back in touch again making some big shots.

“There were a couple of things we called out the play and he didn’t know it was naturally so he’ll get better for it, but for someone that just didn’t have anything run for him to score 18 points and have six assists to virtually just play a very well organised pick-up game, he did very well.”

Forde was just as taken with the way Galloway leads by example at such a young age, and said outside talk of managing his minutes was never something he entertained.

“Everyone was talking about a minutes plan, but nobody talked to me about one, maybe they were too scared to but it wasn’t a conversation I was looking to invite either,” Forde said.

“So we just went in with an ignorance is bliss type mindset and what impresses me most about JG is that he has this quiet intensity about him. He’s someone that just is super aware of his surroundings, and what’s going on around him.

“He’s really comfortable in that environment whether it be a light practice to a high intensity, pressure cooker type game like we had today. For a young man to possess that type of mindset and character trait, it’s what you look for in leaders of government: what he’s able to do under duress and pressure.

“It’s been very cool watching him the last couple of months and the fact that we’ve got him for another five, six months is only going to benefit the whole group.”