A fire still burns in Brad Cooper a decade on, but the Port Douglas coach insists the infamous grand final fight between the Crocs and North Cairns in 2004 is not a motivating factor ahead of the club's sudden-death semi-final tomorrow.
Cooper is one of the few men still involved at either club 10 years on from the well-documented pre-grand final melee that saw all 22 North Cairns players suspsended for a total of more than 400 matches.
No premiership was awarded in what was described as one of the ugliest incidents in the code's history.
The two teams will meet again in the AFL Cairns semi-final series at Cazalys, North Cairns having worked tirelessly to repair their reputation ever since the incident.
Cooper says he tries to forget about it.
And if he mentioned it to this season's playing group they probably wouldn't know what he was talking about.
"I'm still gutted by it; not having a result still burns for me and it was an opportunity missed for a flag for us," he said.
"I try not to think about it though."
"And it's not about motivation, the motivation is about the enjoyment I get from coaching this playing group."
And he says his group is ready to take on a finals campaign from third position in one of the most evenly spread series in recent history.
Discounting their 20-goal drubbing of Norths in Port last Saturday, Cooper is expecting a much stronger Tigers side on the park full of experience and skill.
"It wasn't their full complement," he said.
"They have a great squad full of match-winners. But I'd like to think we can match them."
His side is primed for their first title since 2005 after nine wins from their past 10 games.
"The boys are jumping out of their skin," he said.
Tigers coach Dave Arnfield won't be reliving history either, signaling his desire to stamp out talk of the incident when he took over the post in May.
"I don't want to hear about it, I made that clear straight away," he said.
"If that was on the mind it would be detrimental to our cause."
He agreed 20 goals "was a lot to make up' from last weekend's loss, but said it wasn't impossible.
"We were ordinary in all areas on Saturday, but we could have six or seven back this week and we'll need to be better at clearances, contested footy, the whole lot."
He said the players involved in last season's grand final loss had a glint in their eye.
"It doesn't matter what sport it is, finals brings another level of enthusiasm.
Last Modified on 21/01/2015 13:57