CENTRALS Trinity Beach added the sought-after scalp of Cairns Saints to their collection of conquests this season, beating the reigning AFL Cairns premiers by 29 points at Crathern Oval.
A punching breeze whipping in from the sea 2km from the ground meant skills were always going to be rougher than Cameron Ling’s head on Saturday, but the Bulldogs have proved winning ugly in 2009 is not a concern.
While the Saints were without a host of regular first-graders such as Matt Walsh, Clayton Lange and Josh Martin, Bulldogs coach Mick Seymour said there was no underestimating their traditional rivals.
"I thought we played consistent all day but we could never get much of a break on them," he said.
"For us any time we beat Saints is a good victory because they have been few and far between for us in recent years.
"But it’s always good playing quality opposition. We had a good week at training in the lead-up and that showed."
The Bulldogs always appeared to have Saturday’s match under control but the Saints' persistence throughout the four quarters never allowed them the luxury of clocking off early.
With Heath Barnett (three goals) and his fellow forwards struggling with accuracy, the Bulldogs only had a four-goal advantage at three-quarter time.
But there would be no miracle comeback for the Saints, who could not bridge the deficit. The Bulldogs finished the game strongly, powering to a 16.11 (107) to 12.6 (78) victory.
Jesse Fewkes was at his nuisance best for the Bulldogs. The lightly framed defender popped up whenever he was needed to keep the Saints’ makeshift forward line quiet.
On-baller Josh Maher was the other standout for the home team, continuing the form that will surely see him in contention for the Crathern Medal come the end of the season.
While never happy with a loss, Saints player coach Mark Kennedy could not fault his team’s effort against arguably the league’s form side.
"We found it difficult to kick a winning score with the side we had out there but I thought the players’ endeavour and intensity were fantastic," he said.
"I thought Nathan Kabia especially. I thought it was just about his best game for the club."
