Thornton fractured his left arm against Portland Coasters a fortnight ago, consigning him to the role of non-playing coach for a large chunk of the Country Basketball League south-west conference season.

The Taipans leader will use his forced break to build his coaching repertoire.

Thornton — one of the main instigators behind Timboon’s push for a CBL team — admitted it was tough watching from the sidelines but that he’d already noticed the benefits of coaching from the bench.

The Taipans have endured a tough start to their debut season, averaging 45-point losses across their opening three fixtures, and play Colac in Geelong tomorrow afternoon.

“Our effort is there all the time but we need to concentrate on taking what we are doing in practice into a whole game instead of parts of the game,” Thornton said.

“We’ve been all right for half a quarter and then they (the opposition) will get a 10-2 run.

“We are showing signs we can compete with teams but little lapses are costing us.

“If it happens each quarter it turns into 40 points.”

Thornton expects to return to the floor against Stawell in round nine.

His arm is in a cast for at least three more weeks.

“It is still sore at times. It was pretty bad the first couple of days,” he said.

“It was in the first quarter when we played Portland.

“I went up for a rebound and I got tunnelled a little bit and landed pretty hard.

“It is not as bad as it could have been — it didn’t fully snap, I just fractured it.”

The Taipans will be robbed of another starting-five player for their match against Colac.

Centre Alex Lees, a 200-centimetre teenager, will miss with concussion.

Lees spent time in hospital last Saturday night after he was injured against Stawell.

Thornton said guard Tom Leishman and forward Nathan Beasy were likely to step up as starters. 

Warrnambool’s two teams — the Mermaids and Seahawks — will play a double-header at the Arc tonight.

The two fixtures, which start at 6pm and 8pm respectively, pit the host teams against Horsham Hornets.

The Seahawks will go in as underdogs against the Hornets after suffering a 33-point loss in round two and the Mermaids will attempt to reverse their round two result after the two sides produced a one-point thriller.

Terang Tornadoes and Portland Coasters both have byes this weekend.