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TOWNSVILLE has made the gutsiest preseason call on record and already has Jack Osborn on a flight from Hobart as it looks to reposition itself for the 2012-13 iiNet NBL Championship race.

Wollongong's 2011 playmaking import Gary Ervin, who won the league MVP in his one season in Australia, also is high in Crocs' calculations in the wake of the bombshell news the club today has released under-performing import duo Jason Forte and Curtis Withers.

Since the NBL tipped off in 1979, clubs routinely have discovered an import is not up to scratch and released him, but dumping both before the tip-off is unprecedented.

Both looked well off the pace at the NBL PreSeaSon Tournament at Dandenong but it still was a ballsy move by Townsville CEO Ian Smythe and certainly not an easy one.

But better now than later, after the PSST last weekend left little doubt the duo could not fulfill expectations, Forte something of a "jack-of-all-trades" and Withers just, well, withering.

"Jason is a combo guard and on the weekend it was clear his skills are not in the guard role anymore," Smythe said. "He was better posting up but we already have players for that."

Chris Cedar and Mitch Norton provided better direction from the point, leaving Forte in no-man's land.

Big Ben Allen, whose time has come and who looked (and played) like a big man should - watch out! Big Ben will clock the Most Improved award this season if he continues in current form and attitude - also left Townsville with more options.

In short, Allen's step up made Withers a luxury the club no longer could afford to gamble on, which is why Osborn is on a plane out of Hobart where he played for the Chargers in the SEABL this season.

"Our investment in good young people is paying off," Smythe said, indicating Osborn, 22, was a genuine chance for the roster spot now Allen can be elevated.

The 210cm, 102kg Osborn spent four years in the US university system, averaging 12.6ppg (second on the team) at Adam State College in South Colorado in his senior year, his dazzling 65.9 per cent accuracy from the floor eye-catching and No.2 in Division II.

He delivered 9.1 points for Hobart but at 60.2 per cent this season. His high games were a 21-point haul against Knox and 14 rebounds against Canberra.

Big-man David Pennisi, who played with the Crocs from 1997-2001 and has been playing in Italy, is now an experienced veteran who also offers Townsville another option.

Smythe admitted Ervin, recently released from a contract in Europe, had come up in discussions for an import point guard.

"We're going after a gun point guard," he said.

"Yes, Gary's name has come up but we're shopping."

Smythe said Eddie Gill, who ran the team from the point last season, has a young family and re-locating them had taken eight weeks last time, effectively eliminating him as an option this time.

The Crocs, who have their final exhibition games coming up against Melbourne this weekend, tip off their season on Saturday-week against their arch rival Taipans in Cairns.