A successful return to senior footy last weekend will mean nothing to Travis Thorne unless the Tiger can muscle up to AFL Cairns' best defence tomorrow in round 2 at Watsons Oval.
Thorne kicked eight goals as North Cairns thumped Cairns City Lions to emphasise their dominance in an Easter Friday shellacking, the full forward looking right at home in front of goal despite not playing regular footy for three years.
Having won an FNQ Super League basketball title two seasons ago, the talented guard said his leading, safe hands and vertical leap were all skills he could adapt to the oval-balled sport.
But while basketball has been his most recent focus, footy is in the blood.
The Darwin-raised Thorne grew up kicking the Sherrin for Wanderers in th NTFL and his brother Shane, known as "Mr Magic" in Northern Territory footy circles, was drafted by the Western Bulldogs in 2010 before a knee injury in the VFL prematurely ended his career. Glad to be back playing and committed, Travis was happy to see the ball come cleanly off his boot - his two behinds were off the post and touched on the line.
But the all-round talent will be more satisfied to perform well in tomorrow's clash with Cairns Saints.
The two teams are the early picks to be at the top of the table come finals time and they have already played out an extra-time thriller in the Pre-season Cup in their only match-up this season.
Saints were not blessed with the dry and sunny conditions of Norths last Thursday and did it the tough way in a sloppy defeat of Manunda.
Thorne knows he is in for a contest though, and said the club was preparing to make a statement.
"(Captain-coach) Kane Richter has been hapring about how big of a test this is and how we need to prove ourselves,' he said.
"I'm not sure how Saints will go about defending me.
"But I'm really looking forward to seeing if I can play at their level."
The midfield battle will be just as decisive, with North Cairns' Lukas Ehlich, Dwayne Bosen, Willie Alick and Richter pitted against last season's Crathern Medallist Brenton Powell, Jesse Dixon and Matt Harth.
Last Modified on 08/05/2013 13:56