JORDAN GERRANS:
WHY NORTH CAIRNS NEEDS OUR HELP
SINCE Saturday afternoon, AFL Cairns club North Cairns have been a national laughing stock.
At their home ground on Saturday against reigning premiers Port Douglas, the Tigers conceded 63 goals, yep that is not a typo, 63 goals – as well as 24 behinds – to go down by 402 points, as they did not trouble the scorers.
Social media has since been abuzz with the result – Triple MMM radio in Melbourne, as well as SEN and a few betting outlets posted the score, asked people to tag their mates in that would get a game for North Cairns or stuff along those lines.
The plight of North Cairns is so bleak, they could not even field a reserves team on Saturday and were in danger of not even putting out a seniors team. Thousands of people across Australia were laughing at the listless club.
Locally, I do not think anyone is laughing at the Tigers – I hope they are not laughing.
This is a proud football club with significant history within our region.
For most locally, this result is not a shock at all – they have been a side without direction for years, and a scoreline like this was inevitable, and flagged earlier this year.
Some of the decisions made around player personnel and coaching appointments over the last few years just make you shake your head.
The league have been talking with North for weeks about a plan moving forward, with a resolution not far away.
Since the record scoreline, there has been little public leadership and voice from those in charge. Except for one. Premiership coach of Port Douglas Brad Cooper, the bloke who coached against North on Saturday, went on RSN radio in Melbourne on Monday to help advocate for the future of the battling club.
“I say that to any Melbourne listeners down there, if there is a few footballers looking for a lifestyle change, you can do a lot worse coming up to the Far North,” Cooper said.
“It is sunshine and 27 degrees today, North Cairns would be as good a spot as any.
“For North it is about recruiting now and retaining what they have got.
“Hopefully they can get a few recruits from out of that cold weather you have down there and get them up here.
“The turnaround can be done and it can be done in a short amount of time.”
Cooper, who has no ties to North Cairns, deserves credit in trying to help turn around a battling club. It would be excellent if those within North Cairns had the attitude of Cooper.