Beautiful sunshine greeted the players at the Croc Pit on Saturday as Port Douglas played host to ladder leaders Cairns Saints.
 
Saints produced a polished opening performance and had two goals on the board in the first five minutes.  Skip Gribbon registered the Crocs' first goal after receiving a 50 metre penalty. 

The score board kept ticking over in the Saints' favour but the Crocs boys were giving it their all as they tried to prevent a huge Saints blow out.
 
In a lovely passage of play, a slick handball from Jackson Brown to Kurt Bradshaw resulted in a timely goal to the home team.  This was followed by a great individual effort by Daniel Harris for another. 

The quarter time score line of Saints 7-2 to Port Douglas 4-3, reflected the Crocs' determination to take the match right up to the Saints.
 
Unfortunately for Port Douglas the opposition had the better of the play in the second quarter and with their midfields and forwards dictating the flow of play, they stretched their lead to 6 goals. 

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The second half of the game continued in the same vein.  Fantastic endeavour from the Crocs but they were unable to match it with the stronger Saints combination.  Gavin Jacks did a really great job in forcing the ball forward but Croc goals were hard to come by.
 
Try as they might the locals were unable to stop the visitors from piling on a large score.  The loss to the Saints confirmed that Port Douglas will be unable to sneak into the top 4 and feature in the finals for 2012.

Port Douglas 9-13-67 were def. by Saints 29-14-188.
Goals: S. Gribbon 2.  M. Nuggin 2.  J. Smith.  R. Hanley.  D. Harris.  C. Williams.  K. Bradshaw
Best:  K. Freyling.  D. Wearmouth.  B. Herbert.
 
Port Douglas Reserves had a closely fought tussle and the game remained in the balance until well into the final quarter. 

Sam Evans was featuring for the Crocs with his long kicks penetrating deep into the forward line.  It was only in the last 15 minutes of the match that the Saints proved the steadier and ran out winners. 

Jason "Harry" Wilkie's 5 goal haul took his seasons' tally to 74 to date.  Well done. 
 
Port Douglas 7-3-45 were def. by Saints 9-14-68.
 
Goals: J. Wilkie 5.  D. Lawrence.  J. Caswell.
 
Best:  J. Ramsay.  M. Pidgeon.  K. Zammataro.  C. Nandy.  H. Bogicevic.  A. Mitchell.

Next week Port Douglas journey to Cazalys to do battle with Manunda Hawks.

GO CROCS!