South Cairns reaffirmed it is the team to beat for this season's AFL Cairns premiership by overcoming fierce title rival Centrals Trinity Beach at Fretwell Park on Saturday.
The Cutters had a less than ideal preparation for the match with defender Jimmy Hopgood and forward Ty Harrison ruled out with illness before the game.
But despite the absences the Cutters produced one of their more fluent efforts of the past month to win 17.19 (121) to 12.10 (82).
Cutters coach Steve Daniel said his team had a point to prove.
"I thought the quality of the match was outstanding. It was almost like a final," he said.
"We wanted to win and there were a few boys out there putting up their hands for spots in the side when finals start.
"Considering we lost Jimmy Hopgood and Ty Harrison before the game, two of our better players, I thought we did very well.
"I thought our tackling intensity was especially good."
While happy with his players’ commitment to collision, Daniel was less satisfied with the Cutters’ inaccurate goal-kicking in the second quarter.
The home side was wasteful of a handy breeze and finished with 4.12 for the quarter to lead by 18 points at the main break. The Bulldogs are capable of punishing wastefulness but where their accuracy let them down, the Cutters’ endeavour never wavered.
Last Modified on 17/08/2009 10:10