AFL Cairns: Battle hardened Cutters rain on Cotchins parade
Flocks of Far North footy fans arrived at the Croc Pit to see 2012 Brownlow Medallist and three-time premiership captain Trent Cotchin don the blue and white hoops. Full game breakdown
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In a top of the table blockbuster between two superstar midfields, the ruthless Cutters led by coach Daryn Cresswell showed no mercy in a thrilling 75-82 victory over the Crocs.
“Amazing crowd that’s come up for a good show, “ Cotchin said.
“Cutters were awesome, particularly early in the game, they took a bit of chasing and I think that morphed in on us.
“Massive thank you to Port Douglas and AFL Cairns for putting it all together, it’s a great place to come, spend time with the family and why not have a run around as well even though it was tough.
“I think the lesson for me is that you can’t just come in and expect to be able to compete with the big boys when you haven’t done a whole heap of work.
“Credit to the way that both teams played today, take my hat off to the way that they do it every week.
“There’s a good reason why they’re (both) the best teams in the competition and it’s been an absolute pleasure to play with them.”
Cotchin started the game in the forward pocket, before joining in on a ferocious engine room battle for parts of the second and third quarter.
Cutters sprung out the gates with a dream four-goal to nothing lead in the first term, deploying a slingshot that had echoes of John Longmire’s Sydney Swans.
Crocs had no issues racking up inside 50s, but the connection to the forwards was easy to cut-off and one-dimensional at times with an outnumbered Kye Chapple the obvious focal point.
Cutters absorbed everything Crocs threw at them before hitting them twice as hard on the counter with dangerous ball movement, while making the most of their forward 50 stoppages.
A fluid, fast-paced first half evolved into a congested match after the main break, with Crocs crawling their way back in with a four goals to one third quarter.
Liam Brandt, Brett McKeown and Harvey Moore led the Crocs to find a way to hurt the Cutters on the outside of the contest, involving Zayne Moore, Lloyd Beever and Daniel Davidson but ultimately it wasn’t enough after a goals galore final term.
Miraculous McKeown Brothers
Cutters captain Beau McKeown had an outstanding final term when the game was truly in the balance.
Spending majority of the season across half-back with ball magnet Liam McCarthy, McKeown moved back into the engine room for large parts of the first and final quarter.
McKeown was awarded best on ground for his desire to dominate the contest, while taking big marks in the second half.
McKeown said his brother Luke McKeown also played a strong role for the Cutters.
“Luke (McKeown) is having a great year, his intercept marking and his ability to spoil the ball in the last second is huge for us.
“He’s had an injury interrupted career till this point, he’s had both shoulders heavily operated on.
“He sets us up really strong defensively, he’s vocal, he’s been massive. (I enjoy) playing with him down back.”
Mr fix-it Jamie Wells played a selfless yet crucial role for his side, negating the influence of crocs guns Liam Brandt and Brett McKeown before slotting a big-time goal late in the game.
Wardle v Chapple:
It was a battle between two beasts of the competition. Kye Chapple, the leading goalkicker of the competition heading into round 12, and monstrous defender Jermaine Wardle went head to head with the victor of the contest up for debate. Wardle was all over Chapple in the first half, before Chapple booted his second and third for the game in quick succession during the Crocs third quarter comeback. Wardle was unlucky to concede a fourth goal from a downfield free kick in the final term.
“It was a great contest, they’ve been going head to head for a number of years,” McKeown said.
“Chapple is a gun and he got a couple today but I thought (Wardle) was awesome, his ability to get a fist in at the last second is crucial for us.”
Majority of Crocs forward 50 entries were one-dimensional at times and landed in Chapple’s territory, though Wardle wasn’t alone to shut it down.
Without the second forward 50 threat of Crocs player-coach Nick Salter, former Docker Ryan Nyhuis, Luke McKeown and Raven Jolliffe would take turns coming off their man and outnumbering the marking contest.
Chapple was largely double-teamed but still finished with four, while Cutters came home with the win.
Agents of Chaos
Cutters marquee duo Joseph Ugle (goal) and Tom Fields (three goals) both caused the Crocs headaches.
Ugle, sensational while unpredictable in possession, finds a way to manoeuvre through traffic while his tackling pressure sets the standard.
Fields on the other hand has largely played as a playmaker behind stoppage, playing a quarterback-type role that uses his booming left boot.
“Generally we do play him a bit like a quarterback in a role off half-back,” he said.
“Today we rolled him up forward. We’ve got Hill as our main focus, but teams know that so it was just to try a different avenue to goal.”
The inside-outside combo caused chaos with Fields hitting the scoreboard with game changing goals.
Premier players Damien Hill (three goals) and Liam McCarthy were also game changers.
Injury Scare
Crocs half-back Jared Petrenko went down in the early moments of the first quarter with a suspected serious knee injury.
Fortunately, the 2023 Howard Kennedy Medallist was cleared of any bone damage but is set for scans on a torn muscle later this week.
His run off half-back was sorely missed early in the game before Brett McKeown was moved into his spot.
Petrenko is the latest crucial croc to be added to the injury list after key position players Lee Staple (finger) and Dylan Winton (Achilles) were ruled out for the season, while South Australian duo Nick Salter and Dillon Coates are currently unavailable.
Match summary
Port Douglas Crocs 0.4 4.5 8.9 11.9 (75)
South Cairns Cutters 4.2 8.7 9.10 11.16 (82)
Goals
Crocs: Chapple 4, Beever 2, Laskey 2, Mcphee, Shanahan, Fairclough
Cutters: Hill 3, Fields 3, Wells, Ugle, Scott, Dixon, Dejonge
Originally published as AFL Cairns: Battle hardened Cutters rain on Cotchins parade
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