Comfortably beaten by Saints, Centralshave joined North Cairns and Cairns City Lions on the scrap heap leaving heavyweights Saints and Port to lock horns one week earlier than they did last year.
While Saints pushed away in a 14.16 (100) to 8.12 (60) win, Souths came from the clouds to earn a week off with a 14.11 (95) to 11.14 (80) comeback defeat of Port.
The Crocs had won 12 consecutive games and lost just twice in 18 all season to Souths on one of these occasions. And shortly after quarter time, Port having kicked seven of the first nine goals and constructed 13 scoring shots to two, they looked as good as home.
Declan Kelly was the enforcer in defence while Antony Sercombe won plenty of ball and pushed forward and Kye Chapple (four goals) was on song. But Souths, who were bundled out of the finals as minor premiers in straight sets last year, found another gear. Spurred on by the turf burning speed of Jack Marino, the Cutters soired the least five goals of the half to recover from 51-13 to 52-46 at the main break. Suddenly Kelly and his defensive unit, impenetrable early in the game, had no answer to James Dixon (four goals) and his determined Souths.
Zac Ewer showed composure in the midfield with some clever handballs while Paul Smith made an impact, Michael Douglas was brave and Lukas Ehlich on a mission to win a contested ball. Port panicked, Mitchell McKee and Daniel Cross show yellow cards in a frantic close to the third term, as uncharactaristic skill errors crept into their game.
Goals to Dixon and then Paul Buller from 50 metres gave Souths the lead early in the fourth and Port could not earn it back. "We kicked two in a row there and it felt like we many have turned it around," Cutters player coach Daniel Lock said. "They had won 12 straight so we wanted to get close and put them in a position they had not been in for a while. "We showed a lot of character, have kept working at areas we needed and now we get the week off and I hope Saints and Port go very hard this weekend."
Article Courtesy of Murray Wenzel The Cairns Post
Last Modified on 08/09/2015 12:19