The Port Douglas Crocs have removed any doubt that they are the team to beat this year after they gave the reigning premiers, Cairns Saints, a good old fashioned shellacking in the CAFL on Saturday.

In AFL’s ‘Umpiring is for everyone’ round in which most of the parochial home crowd showed the men and women in yellow the respect they deserve, the Crocs didn’t disappoint with a comprehensive 85 point thrashing of the Saints,  26.19 (166) to 12.9 (81).

The Saints showed signs of competitiveness throughout the game, but these were short lived and seemed only to appear when the Crocs took their foot off the gas.

After going in at half time with a commanding lead, the third quarter saw the Crocs commit some uncharacteristic lapses in discipline, resulting in a number of free kicks and 50m penalties. This did not go unnoticed by coach, Andy Viola, who reminded his team not to pack up their tools before the job was finished.

Reflecting on his tactics after the game Andy contemplated “(The) Saints are a very good side and I guess I coached too defensively and played a bit too much man-on-man, which stifled our normal free flowing game.”

“We acknowledge that at quarter time and decided to roll the dice and let the boys have free rein knowing if it didn’t work we could go back.”  Sam Boxall, Daniel Smith and Matt Shaw all bagged four goals for the Crocs, thanks mainly to a stellar defensive display from captain Evan “Buddha” Hocking.

Saints forward, Alex MacQueen, showed some fight finishing with five goals, while Josh Walsh kicked two.

In the Magoos the Crocs struggled to kick a competitive score, going down by 53 points, 14.12. (96) to 6.7 (43).  Best players for the Crocs were Worn, Gleeson, and Herbert, while O''Bree, Cockfield, and Turner were standouts for the visitors.

The Crocs have the Bye for Carnivale this week.