AFL Cairns: Battle-hardened Saints back for another crack

The memory of sitting in a sombre grand final dressing shed while the opposition’s victory song boomed next door will fuel Cairns Saints in their quest to go one better in the AFL Cairns season.

The memory of sitting in a sombre grand final dressing shed while the opposition’s victory song boomed next door will fuel Cairns Saints in their quest to go one better in the AFL Cairns season.

Saints centre half-forward Jake O’Halloran, now in his third season at the club, hopes the hard lessons he and his teammates learned through last year’s grand final loss to Port Douglas can lead to the red, black and white’s first premiership since 2015.

“It was a tough loss in the grand final, but we took plenty of positives out of it,” O’Halloran said.

“We’ve lost a few players down to the Gold Coast and a few of the other clubs, but we’ve got a good core group that we’ve been able to retain.

Saints' Jake O'Halloran in the AFL Cairns match between the Centrals Trinity Beach Bulldogs and the Cairns Saints, held at Crathern Park, Trinity Beach. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

“We feel like we’ve got a good group this year, so hopefully we can roll into this year with a few more wins and take out the grand final.”

He said the acquisition of Port Douglas forward and last year’s grand final rival Adam Gross would bolster the Saints up front.

A multiple premiership player for Port Douglas, Gross was AFL Cairns’ leading goal kicker in 2019.

“It will be nice to have ‘Grossy’ playing along the half-forward line with me,” O’Halloran said.

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“I think it will be a nice little upgrade for us in our forward line, because that’s what we lacked last year, our forward line structure.”

Saints will have the bye in Round 1 and play their first match of the season against Cairns City Lions on Saturday, April 17.

Originally published as AFL Cairns: Battle-hardened Saints back for another crack