THE Manunda Hawks enter the AFL Cairns season hoping to prove their doubters wrong.
A host of top-shelf talent left the club after winning the premiership last year, including Crathern Medal winner Willy Alick, Adam Baker and Jamie Scrymgour.
The additions are yet to prove themselves at the elite level in Cairns, prompting predictions that the Hawks will come back to the field after two years of dominance.
Coach Michael Purcell is cautiously confident his replacements will be up to the task but admitted the loss of Alick to Hastings in Victoria was a blow.
"The bloke could obviously play and in saying that we lost a couple of midfielders but we have picked up a couple.
"We won’t know until we start playing whether we are placed adequately. We have still kept 12 or 13 of last year’s premiership side so it still gives a good base to work with."
The Hawks meet Cairns Saints in a highly anticipated Grand Final replay on Sunday.
The Saints are adamant they will not seek revenge on Sunday. "It hasn’t been mentioned at all and I’m not lying," coach Mark Kennedy said of the 2007 decider.
"It’s exciting playing the Hawks but we’ve got six or seven new players who didn’t even watch the game so it is a different feel."
Kennedy has recruited strongly from Victorian country leagues but is still getting a feel for the talent on his list.
"A fair few that will be in reserves could be playing seniors but I haven’t had a chance to have a good look at them so it will be good to do that."
Tomorrow’s match between South Cairns and Centrals Trinity Beach looms as an intriguing clash.
South Cairns have been tipped as one of the improvers after finishing third last year.
Marcus McMillan and Pat Ratray will add potency to an attack which already boasts the likes of former AFL player Lawrence Angwin.
Coach Steve Daniel said it was too early to predict if the recruitment drive would pay off but was confident a big pre-season had them ready to strike.
"We felt we had to bridge the gap between the Saints and Hawks from last year so we have recruited a few people to be in the same league as these two clubs," he said.
North Cairns plays City Cobras in the other match tomorrow.
Norths will be keen to get an early win after losing all 18 matches last year.
"We’ve really gone with recruiting younger guys this year but we’ve also tried to retain our list and build on what we had last year," coach Troy McGuane said.
"There’s definite improvement in our player ranks and we have had pretty much a full pre-season together and gelled well so I think good things will come."
