Saints have some work ahead of them if they want to win another flag this season.
Player-coach Brenton Powell said North Cairns were simply too good in their top-of-the table clash at Griffiths Park on Saturday.
The Tigers jumped eight points clear of the competition with the 11.21(87) to 9.9(63) win as only errant kicking kept Saints in the contest.
That makes it 2-1 in favour of Norths in head-to-heads this season, but 2-2 if you include Saints' three-point win in the Preseason Cup.
Powell said they were clearly ahead of the rest at the moment, though.
"They were the better team all day, really," he said. "It was just some poor kicking that kept us in it.
We've got to improve to match them."
Shaun Knott was again good for Norths, but as has been the case all season, there were no real weaknessess.
"Their entire forward line is impressive," Powell said.
"We've had close games all season an hopefully it's close again in the finals but we come out on top."
Last Modified on 10/09/2013 16:16