Crocs make history with five in a row
AFL GRAND FINAL
It was a Douglas double domination at Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns on Saturday night with the Port Douglas Crocs seniors and reserves teams both coming home with premiership glory.
It was a historic five in a row for the seniors, who dominated Cairns Saints, making them the first team in AFL Cairns history to claim five back to back premierships since records began in the 1950s.
The most successful club in the competition now has six of the last seven grand final wins under its belt.
Crocs President Barry Lea said having both teams come home triumphant was a terrific sight to see.
“It was an absolutely great team effort by everyone,” he said.
“The seniors game started fairly level for the first two quarters, which is a credit to the Saints, but we went into six-gear for the last half.
“We got to about 50 points up in the last quarter before they came back with the last four goals.”
It wasn’t nearly enough in the end for the Saints, with the final score; Crocs 102 to Saints 72.
Crocs Jai Florent was awarded best on ground on Saturday night while Skipper Kye Chapple, was the Crocs leading goal kicker.
Croc centre halfback, Lochie Rosevear, said going into the grand final undefeated did put some pressure on the team to continue the winning streak.
“But we had the confidence and we knew what we had to do to give it to the Saints and I believe we did that,” he said.
“For the first half the Saints put up a good fight but after Coops (senior coach) gave us a half time talk, telling us to show them what we are made of, we did just that.”
Mr Rosevear said the club’s great camaraderie was part of their continued success.
“There’s a great feeling amongst us, it’s a great group, we gel well, and we are all friends off the ground,” he said.
As for the reserves’ decider on Saturday afternoon, there was never any doubt in the win with the Crocs dominating the South Cairns Cutters, from start to finish, waking away with a 127-point win.
Final score Crocs 143 to 16.
“The reserves had an unbelievable win against Cutters,” Mr Lea said.
“The town should be proud.”
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