A BRAVE second half fight-back wasn’t enough to see Port Douglas overcome South Cairns on Saturday with the Crocs going down by 17-points.

The home-side trailed by 33 points at the main-break with the Cutters living up to pre-season hype thanks to dominant performances from Luke Anning, Ryan Etherington and Dave Welch.

Crocs vice-captain Dylan Wearmouth tried to lift his team in the second half in front of a healthy crowd at the Port Douglas Sporting Complex, but despite outscoring their opponents 9.5 to 6.7 it wasn’t enough to secure the win.

They were left to lament a sluggish start which saw the Cutters boot the first four-goals of the match.

“We were very patchy and gave them a good head start which was basically the difference in the match,” Crocs coach Brad Cooper said.

“We didn’t play the brand of footy that we want to for long enough. We finished the game off strongly and had a big second half, so it was a bit of a waste from that perspective but there were still some positive signs.”

Wearmouth overcame a hamstring injury leading into the match to be the Crocs star performer in a promising display, while Hayden Graham, Peter Bury and Jordan Chapman were solid contributors.

Port Douglas will hope to bounce back this week against North Cairns Tigers at home.

“We get the chance to back-up again at home this week which is a real positive for us,” Cooper said.

AFL CAIRNS - ROUND 2:
Port Douglas Crocs      2.4 4.5 8.7 13.10 (88)
South Cairns Cutters   5.0 10.2 15.4 15.4 (105)

Port Douglas Crocs:
Goals: McCrae 3, Jacks 2, McCullougg, Bury, Graham, Bendle, Glass, Mawson, Davidson, Shapter.
Best: Wearmouth, Graham, Bury, Chapman, Bendle, Scally