A new identity has awakened a fresh determination within inaugural Cairns City Lions captain Steve Diehm ahead of the club's AFL Cairns debut against the Manunda Hawks at Cazalys tonight. The Lions formed when Cairns City Cobras and AFL Cairns Juniors club Redlynch Lions merged at the end of last season and hopes are high the new venture will enjoy a successful future. Diehm, who captained Cobras last year, is not expecting any miracles straight up, but hopes the Lions reap the benefits of a tough pre-season against the Hawks.
"All the players are pretty excited about the game," Diehm said.
"We worked hard in the off-season and now it's time to put the talk to bed and, hopefully, start out on the right foot.You don't get much of a chance to play under lights up here and a lot of the young blokes are really excited and are jumping out of their skin."
A top-four finish and a September appearance is on the to-do list for Diehm, but he is realistic about the task facing the Lions. The club has lost the services of a host of senior players from Cobras' 2010 roster, including Jake Briggs and team leaders Aaron and Trent Nesbitt.
"We know it's going to be tough," Diehm said."It's pretty obvious we've lost nine or 10 of our regular senior players. But we've got a lot of young players wanting to make the step up and we've got a few older guys who want to taste finals football before their time is up."
Read more at http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2011/03/25/155965_local-sport-news.html
Courtesy of The Cairns Post
Last Modified on 12/05/2011 09:51