The curtain-raiser was grand but the main event was spectacular.
Hours after Cairns Saints beat the Manunda Hawks in a memorable contest, South Cairns won an epic encounter in the second final against Centrals Trinity Beach by four points to become the first side through to the AFL Cairns season decider.
Cutters assistant coach Matt Phelan said Saturday’s result was the culmination of 10 months work.
"We’ve been going at this since last November," he said.
"We really didn’t want to have to come back next week and play the winner of Hawks and Saints.
"We’ve worked hard. We felt we’ve been the best side all year and deserved to be first into the grand final."
For a while though, it appeared it would be the Bulldogs earning a week off.
The Cutters led by six points at halftime after both forward Marcus McMillan and midfielder Aaron Wanders took their places in the side.
But when play restarted it was the Bulldogs who dominated.
The Cutters were uncharacteristically sloppy in the third quarter but many of the errors were forced by the Bulldogs’ unrelenting pressure.
Jesse Fewkes was outstanding for the Trinity Beach natives. The light-stepping defender popped up across the park to torment the Cutters, scheming and kicking goals at will.
Without second ruckman Callum Rhode, who succumbed to a virus before the game, Bulldogs captain Peter Reynolds was tireless at the stoppages against influential Cutters big man Andrew Browning.
The Bulldogs midfield was also superb, with its delivery to centurion goal kicker Heath Barnett (seven goals) a match highlight.
The Cutters looked limp at the final change but a plea from coach Steve Daniel to take chances in the last quarter was heeded.
Energised by the threat of losing, the Cutters stormed into contention with the
attacking brand of footy they are known for.
The finish was frantic with the ground announcer forced to keep players and fans informed of the score to compensate for a malfunctioning scoreboard.
When the siren sounded it was the Cutters in front 16.15 (111) to 16.10 (106). The celebration that followed was like they had won the grand final.
Bulldogs coach Mick Seymour was gutted by the loss, believing his side had done enough in the third term to set up a win.
"I probably did think we had them at three-quarter time," he said.
"It wasn’t a big enough lead to protect and it wasn’t spoken about but I think we fell into that trap.
"The bounce of the ball and a few umpiring decisions didn’t go our way and that undermined the scoreboard a little.
"I thought our boys tackled their guts out and weren’t rewarded for their efforts at all, which was really disappointing."
Last Modified on 06/10/2009 15:22