PORT Douglas will unleash Darwin midfielder Jack Riley tomorrow against North Cairns Tigers.

Riley joins the Crocs from Northern Territory Football League powerhouse St Marys and will bolster an emerging midfield down at the croc pit.

The young Crocs have already shown promising signs in the early stages of the AFL Cairns season, and coach Brad Cooper said Riley’s addition is a welcome boost.
“We think Jack will fit in quite nicely at our club,” Cooper said.

“We’ll probably use him on the perimeter this week as he’s only just arrived in town, but he’ll add to our midfield which is always handy."

Exciting teenager Tom Goodall will also make his senior debut at the Port Douglas Sporting Complex tomorrow. The creative half-bank was on the cusp of joining senior ranks last season as a 16 year-old before breaking his collarbone. He now looks ready to give the Crocs plenty of drive behind the ball.

“We are really excited to have Tom in the side and we think he can play an important role for us,” Cooper said.

“He has represented Queensland in just about every age bracket and has been unlucky with injury, so he finally gets his chance.

“He’s a handy size at 6’2”, uses the ball really well and he’ll set up across half-back for us.”

The Crocs will be looking to atone for a sluggish start against South Cairns that ultimately cost them four-points last week. Cooper is confident they can learn from the experience heading into the clash with North Cairns.

“I’m possibly the worst loser there is, as a lot of coaches are,” he said.

“I touched on the positives of out of the loss, but if you don’t hammer home the negatives then you just don’t learn.

“We played some good footy when we played our way, it’s very obvious from a coaching point of view what we need to do and it’s easy to fix. But we have to go out there and do it now.”

AFL CAIRNS - ROUND 2:
Saturday 15 April - 3pm
Port Douglas Crocs v North Cairns Tigers
Port Douglas Sporting Complex

SELECTED TEAMS: