http://www.cairnspost.com.au/sport/local-sport/north-cairns-tigers-chase-winning-streak/story-fnjpuwsz-1227017526204
BACK-TO-BACK wins against teams they needed to beat have given North Cairns a small but welcome confidence boost at the back of what has been a bumpy season at Watsons Oval.
The Tigers, who led the field last year only to fall in the grand final to Saints, have not been the same side during this campaign.
But coach Dave Arnfield has seen enough to think that, if they can hang on to fourth, there may be life in them yet.
“When Hawks and Lions beat us earlier in the season it wasn’t looking good, but the last few weeks have been good,” the coach said.
“If we get a full team back for finals – and yes, I know every team is saying the same thing – I’d like to think we’d be a chance of getting results.
“We’ve got a bit of confidence back I think.”
Saints, Souths and Port Douglas have a mortgage on the top three and will fight among themselves to decide the order with four games left to play before finals.
Norths’ wins against Cairns City two weeks ago and Centrals last Saturday have given them a one-game buffer on the Lions, one they hope to consolidate against the Manunda Hawks tomorrow afternoon.
The Hawks have endured a long week, with an impending penalty hanging over the club’s head following their decision not to play games in Port Douglas last Saturday.
Manunda cited potential for crowd behavioural issues as their reason for not travelling north last Saturday and AFL Cairns are continuing their investigation of the incident.
AFL Cairns president Gary Young contacted all clubs yesterday informing them that a decision would likely be reached by the middle of next week and that this weekend’s fixtures would proceed as per normal.
Despite the interruption, and the fact they are injury-ravaged and being propped up by their developing juniors, Arnfield won’t be relaxing.
“It’ll be ‘us against the world’ for them after this week, they’ll be hungry and we’ve spoken about that,” Arnfield said. “We need to make sure we turn up and get the job done.”
That game will start at 2pm due to a masters clash that follows. Reserves play at noon.
After knocking off Saints last weekend, South Cairns will return home to host Centrals Trinity Bulldogs.
And Port Douglas, who are only four points behind Saints, travel to Holloways Beach to meet Cairns City Lions.
Story and photo courtesy of "Cairns Post"
Last Modified on 21/01/2015 14:29