Only a slightly better second half saved Saints from an upset loss to Souths at Fretwell Park on Saturday afternoon, but player-coach James Coatsworth was happy to take the win no matter how unconvincing it may have been. The AFL Cairns defending champions were always expected to coast past last season’s wooden spooners, even though the Cutters have shown drastic improvement this year.
The loss of six players from last week’s winning Souths team, including skipper Michael Markham, should have made it more of a formality, but they cast it all aside and kept pace with Saints for the first two quarters. The home team, wearing pink guernseys in an effort to raise money for breast cancer sufferers, trailed by just three points at quarter time and seven points at half-time. The scent of an upset, and a barbecue, was in the air but that margin slowly increased as the class of Saints prevailed. Five goals in each of the last two terms proved too much for the Cutters as Saints improved their 2011 record to 5-0. David Downes stepped up in the absence of Markham and booted five for the Cutters, but it was the four majors off the laces of Saints’ Aaron Noonan that proved most decisive.
"When the game was there to be won he stepped up. His goals really turned the match in our favour," Coatsworth said. "They played really well I thought and we didn’t really start well at all."
There were regular blemishes in the Saints game that had a lot to do with a smattering of their stars being absent as well, but Coatsworth was unfazed as long as the results kept going their way.
"Our skills are still not there yet, but if you’re playing poorly and still winning there’s nothing wrong with that (early in the season)," he said.
Cutters president Lance Dixon was understandably positive despite the 33-point loss. Last year was a horror year for the club – picking up the wooden spoon and only winning one of 18 games. But after two wins in the first five rounds, they have shown enough to be genuine top-four contenders.
‘‘We knew last year was going to be hard before we’d played a game," Dixon said. "We needed to blood some youth and look at the bigger picture. It is starting to pay off now."
Read more at http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2011/05/09/162781_local-sport-news.html
Courtesy of The Cairns Post
Last Modified on 11/05/2011 12:19