Cairns will contribute seven players to the Queensland squad that will play top division of Australian Country Football championships for the first time in Canberra next month.
Kane Richter, Matt Walsh, Mark Kennedy, Evan Hocking, Paul Minchington, Lukas Ehlich and Trent Nesbitt made the cut despite Cairns loss to the Country Stockmen in Brisbane on Saturday.
The game doubled as a selection trail, with Queensland coach and former South Cairns mentor Steve Daniel in the crowd at Coorparoo Oval.
Cairns only trailed by five points at half time but could not keep pace with the Stockmen in the final two quarters and went down 19.6-120 to 10.10-70.
Walsh, who captained Queensland at the 2008 championships, finished with six goals while centre-half back Kane Richter was named Cairns best on ground.
Kennedy, who coaches Cairns, said his side was outclassed.
“Some of the players were pretty shard and adapted to the pace of the game better than us,” he said.
“It was pretty close in the first half but in the second half we got a bit fumbly. But I was very impressed with how the side represented themselves on and off the field in Brisbane.
“The boys showed a huge amount of endeavour and a lot of passion but in that particular day we weren’t good enough.”
The Australian country championship run from July 22-25.
Last Modified on 28/10/2010 11:17