AFL Cairns: Saints punish Crocs to march to decider
Cairns Saints are one win away from calling themselves the new kings of AFL Cairns after a big win over Port Douglas in the qualifying semi-final at Cazalys Stadium.
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Cairns Saints are one win away from calling themselves the new kings of AFL Cairns.
The Saints put rivals the Port Douglas Crocs to the sword early and didn’t look back in a blistering performance to advance to the AFL Cairns grand final, winning 22.18 (150) to 14.8 (92) on Saturday afternoon.
Following their 52-point win over the Crocs two weeks ago, a searing five-goal first term in the qualifying final did little to convince the Cazalys crowd that Port Douglas were contenders in 2021.
The Crocs showed enough grit to claw their way back from 38 points down at halftime, kicking the first three goals of the third quarter to get back within 20 points.
But it only made the Saints go up another gear, kicking six of the last seven goals for the term and opening up a 54-point lead at the final break.
“They came at us hard after halftime but I think the way we play we just wear teams down,” said Saints centre half-forward Zac Straker.
“We talk about playing four-quarter footy and I think we did that (on Saturday).”
The Saints showed no signs of missing injured goalsneak Adam Gross (rib), with six goalkickers hitting the scoreboard in the first half, including four from Straker and two from Timakoi Bowie.
Straker and Liam Hepworth finished with four goals each, while skipper Cade Wellington, Scott Rowe, Joshua Mitchell, Jacob Zboril and Bowie kicked a pair each.
“I was able to get on the end of a few, which is always nice, but the way our forward line works is there’s always someone getting off the leash,” Straker said.
“It’s just good to have a good bunch of boys down there, and that someone’s going to get off the leash.”
Saints will play the winner of this Saturday’s preliminary final between Port Douglas and Cairns City Lions in the grand final on Saturday, September 18, with Gross a chance to return.
“I’d say so – I’d hope so,” Straker said.
“He’s a big part of our forward line and a massive addition if we get him back.”
The Saints’ win over the Crocs marked a historic occasion for the club, with its seniors, reserves and women’s sides all advancing to their respective deciders, after winning in the first week of finals.
The undefeated women’s side made light work of the Manunda Hawks in a 35-point win on Friday night, before the reserves came from behind to defeat Centrals-Trinity Beach on Saturday.
Straker said Cairns Saints was “the place to be”.
“The club’s rolling at the moment,” he said.
“I don’t think anyone’s had three teams win flags so that’s what we’re going for, and it’s a really good vibe around the club at the moment.”
Meanwhile, the Lions etched their own piece of club history with the side’s first finals win in 21 years, taking a thrilling 9.3 (67) to 7.11 (53) win over Centrals in the elimination semi-final.
The Lions kicked the last three goals of the third term to open up a 22-point lead at the final break – their largest of the game at that point.
Three late goals the way of the Bulldogs set up a grandstand finish, before the Lions’ Darcy Morris sealed the deal with his third of the day in the final minutes.
Dogs keen to do damage in finals
Having ticked off their primary goal for the season – a return to the AFL Cairns finals – Centrals Trinity Beach will up the ante in pursuit of its first finals win since 2016.
The Bulldogs will meet Cairns City Lions in Saturday’s elimination semi-final at Cazalys Stadium.
Centrals player-coach Luke Morgan said making the finals was one thing, but now the side was there, it wanted to do some damage.
“To play footy at the final end is what you’re gunning for and it’s the reason you play footy,” Morgan said.
“There’s three teams that aren’t going to be playing footy this week, but we’re in there, so we give ourselves a chance and we’re going to come out really firing.
“It’s all on the line so we’ll hopefully take our game to the next level and compete really hard to get the reward the boys deserve, which will be a finals win.
“We’ve got great confidence that we’ve been able to improve in the second half of the season.”
The Bulldogs had lost more games than they had won after 10 rounds of the competition and had plenty of work to do to be in the finals mix, but went on to win five of their last six games and finish in third spot on the ladder.
Morgan said it was a nice reward for effort for the club, and they hoped to ride that momentum for at least a couple more weeks.
“The real season starts now and we need to make some damage over the coming weeks,” he said.
Morgan said the Lions were a quality outfit, with former AFL players Aaron Davey, Ashton Hams and Eddie Sansbury on their list.
“If you allow them to play the way they want to play, they can be hard to stop, so we’ve got to be very good and we’ll respect their team,” he said.
The last time the Bulldogs won a final was in 2016, when they defeated Saints in the elimination semi-final, before they were knocked out by Port Douglas the following week.
The Bulldogs finished second on the ladder in 2017, but were knocked out of the finals in straight sets, losing the qualifying semi-final against Port Douglas, and the following week’s preliminary final against Manunda.
They made the finals in 2018 but were eliminated in the first week again, before they made their return to the finals this season.
The winner of Saturday’s clash will advance to next week’s preliminary final, where they will take on the loser of the qualifying semi-final between Cairns Saints and Port Douglas Crocs for a place in the grand final.
Saints deny Cutters in shown of strength
The AFL Cairns minor premiers showed exactly why they are this season’s greatest premiership threat with a big win over the South Cairns Cutters to send them packing from the competition.
Cairns Saints displayed as much sympathy as you would expect against the Cutters at Griffiths Park on Saturday, putting their old rivals to the sword while at the same time ending their 2021 campaign with a 77-point drubbing.
With everything to play for, the Cutters found themselves chasing the game as the Saints showed greater intent around the footy and were far more efficient going forward.
The results means South Cairns will miss the finals this season for the first time in a decade. The Cairns City Lions will take their place after having a bye in the last round.
Saints ruckman Jarrod Peake relished a move up forward and kicked eight goals, while goal sneak Adam Gross booted six before picking up a rib injury, in the 21.15 (141) to 9.10 (64) win.
Midfielder Chris Novy played just his second game of the year after surgery on an ongoing hip injury at the end of last season.
Novy first picked up the injury in round two of last year and made his return late in the season before re-injuring his hip in the semi-final against Port Douglas and opting to have surgery.
He made his return against the Hawks three weeks ago.
“I’ve just been able to get my body right so I played again on the weekend and I feel all right now. I’m sore but I’m all right,” he said.
“Hopefully I can sustain a reasonably healthy body come the next few weeks.”
Forced to be a spectator for most of the season, Novy has been able to see his side from a different perspective, and he said there were a couple of key differences from last year’s runners-up campaign.
“I think it’s just the diversity with the dynamic that we’ve got this year,” he said.
“We’ve got the perfect mix of a super skilful, running backline, plus the added lockdown backs, as well as the talls that have been brought into the team who can ruck and also play full forward.”
Novy said the team’s goalkicking had been “superb”.
“We haven’t got one target in the forward line this year, we’ve got three or four, and if someone’s having a quiet day you know someone else is going to step up and kick a bag of goals, and I think that’s what you need,” he said.
“We’ve got such a hard-running midfield, so to be able to get the reward from somebody on the day is huge.”
That “next man up” mantra was on show in the Saints’ dismantling of South Cairns when Peake, who had kicked nine goals for the season before the game, booted eight after a move up forward.
“Grossy’s our main goalkicker and Cade (Wellington) can kick goals, but Peakey stepped up on the weekend,” Novy said. “Zac Straker can step up when needed, Jacob Zboril – all these forwards are capable of kicking multiple goals, and I think that’s something that really helps you prevail in tough games.
“When your midfield’s working their arses off to get those inside-50s, you just need that reward, and I think this year that’s probably been the difference. We’ve been able to find that reward through our forwards.”
Cairns Saints will take on Port Douglas in the qualifying semi-final at Cazalys Stadium on Saturday.
The Saints defeated the Crocs by 52 points less than two weeks ago, but Novy was expecting a much tighter contest this time around.
He said Gross was “likely” to play because the weekend’s rib injury was a minor concern.
Centrals-Trinity Beach Bulldogs take on Cairns City Lions in the other semi-final.
Originally published as AFL Cairns: Saints punish Crocs to march to decider
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