And now it has arrived, Cooper says his team has no intention of wasting the opportunity to clinch a third-straight flag.

“Basically the real season goes for three weeks and it starts tomorrow,” Cooper said.

“It’s a long pre-season and home-and-away, and a lot of work goes into getting yourself into a position to have another crack.”

The Crocs tuned up for their qualifying final against Cairns Saints by crushing them by 75-points last week, securing the minor premiership in the process.

Cooper said it provided an ideal preparation for another spring campaign, but stressed they still had plenty to work on.

Despite losing just once in two seasons – to the Saints in round six this year – the club was constantly striving to play better footy, according to Cooper.

“The only way to improve is to show them where we’re falling short,” he said.

“In many ways it’s negative coaching, but you’re not going to improve if you’re continually focusing on what you’re doing well. 

“It’s been a different year for us, we’ve actually had a lot of injuries.”

The Crocs won’t finalise their side until tomorrow with star midfielder Pete Bury named despite being under an injury cloud.

Brett Mckeown, who has missed a large chunk of footy with a shoulder injury, hasn't been selected.

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“You want the headaches that we’ve got now. As a coach, these are the tough decisions you want to be making at this time of the year,” Cooper said.

“I guess the benefit of knowing we would finish top two is you can micro manage a little bit. It allows you to work on getting some blokes back on the park and familiar again with the systems that we play.

"Last year we were blessed with injuries. This year we have been smacked from pillar to post.”

Cooper said he was expecting a ‘different look’ from the Saints at Cazalys Stadium tomorrow despite meeting them for the second time in a week.

The Crocs faced the same equation back in 2006, ironically, against the Saints.

“They’ll get some back and will do things a bit differently to how they went about it last week,” Cooper said.

“We played some good footy but also fell short in a few areas, especially in the last quarter.”

AFL CAIRNS – FINALS SERIES
Qualifying Final - Saturday 8 September, 3.30pm
Port Douglas v Cairns Saints
Cazalys Stadium, Cairns


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