It is a moment Anthony Fisher will never forget.
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It was 5.30pm on a Thursday and the Ballarat-born basketball player had just returned from work. He was getting ready for training when he received a text message from Cairns Taipans head coach Mike Kelly.
"Mike asked me to drop by the office on the way to practice," recalled Fisher.
"I knew he was flying out to America the next day to check out some imports, and I thought this will go one of two ways - he'll either tell me he wants me on the squad, or he'll tell me he doesn't."
Kelly informed Fisher he had made the Taipans' 2019-20 NBL team. It was music to the ears for the former Ballarat Miner who had been trying to crack the side since venturing to Cairns from Ballarat in 2015.
"I was a bit lost for words when he told me, it was just he and I, and I didn't know what to say, I just kept saying thank you," he said.
The timing couldn't have been more fitting for the point guard.
After four years in the far-north chasing his NBL dream, Fisher had reached a crossroads, and was beginning to contemplate his future. At 25, he was entering his basketball prime, and was coming off another stellar season with the Taipans' Queensland Basketball League affiliate, the Cairns Marlins.
He'd spent time with the Taipans as a developmental player, and later a training player. But a full-time contract still alluded him.
"I was heading into that mindset of moving on from the NBL because I thought my time might have passed," Fisher admitted.
"I was working with a civil company which I was enjoying, and working my arse off in practice every morning and then going to work the machines in the afternoon.
"It can be hard as a DP because you might be put into a position financially where you've got to work outside basketball, but I've stuck by it and it's exciting to finally break in."
I was heading into that mindset of moving on from the NBL because I thought my time might have passed.
- Anthony Fisher
Fisher will join a new-look Taipans outfit for the upcoming season, headlined by stalwart centre Nate Jawai.
Likely to play off the bench, Fisher will have his work cut out against some of the pre-eminent guards of the competition. But he maintained he was up for the challenge.
"I know the league is getting better, and I know the calibre of player I'll be competing against will be imports with a tonne of experience," he said.
"I wont change my role too much, I'm a team first-guy, I'll try and get after it defensively, and do what I can to help us win."
The Cairns Taipans will tip-off the 2019-20 NBL season against the Sydney Kings on October 4.