The ground was packed as the club celebrated a 10 year premiership reunion amid Port Douglas Carnivale celebrations and Horsham product Chapple rose to the occasion.
His haul put him top of the golden boot tally with 36 goals ahead of Saints Matt Walsh who was kept to just one major in the 17.13 (115) to 10.9 (69) win.
Walsh kicked the first goal of the day before Chapple tore free in the second quarter, his four goal stanza setting up a 64-29 lead after the margin had been as little as eight points. Saints responded in the third term, kicking six of the next nine goals to restore the margin to just 19 points early in the fourth. But Port rallied to boot the last four goals and ensure celebrations were not dampended for the bulk of the 2005 premiership side that had returned to Port for the weekend to celebrate their incredible goal-after-the-siren flad won then years ago.
Saints loss sees them slip to fourth on the ladder, one win behind Souths, Port and Centrals who share top spot. "Speaking to the old boys who have been here a while and theyll tell you they havent had this sort of season for a while" Keiran Daley said. "But as a league thats what you want - going into games not knowing whos going to win - and for us itll be back to two good nights of training this week trying to take something from the loss.
"The atmosphere ther was great though; it lifted the intensity and it was a pretty physical game."
The former labrador QAFL player said Chapple was the difference on the day, but that they did not feel like Port were too good for them despite their 0-2 record against them this season.
"He got some good clean footy from his midfield and when Nathan Weiss went down at fullback that didnt help us either," Daley said. "But not at all; we were only three goals down late in the game there and with our reserves putting pressure on with some good results (our depth is good)."
Article Courtesy of Murray Wenzel The Cairns Post
Last Modified on 25/05/2015 14:38