Cutters keen for more

Coach aiming for consistency after breakthrough win

The monkey is off the back.

Now, Chris Baksh wants to see his South Cairns Cutters string together consistent performances and win back-toback games for the first time this season when they host Manunda at Fretwell Park.

The Cutters finally broke through for their first win of the 2023 AFL Cairns campaign with a tight, three-point win against the defending premier Cairns City Lions.

Accuracy in front of goal proved the biggest difference between the teams, with South Cairns’ 14 goals from 21 scoring shots getting them home in a tight finish at Fretwell.

Back at home for a second straight week, South Cairns will be out to put some distance between themselves and bottom-placed Manunda, the only winless team in the competition with a percentage of just 25.

“We could set ourselves up, we have another challenge against Manunda,” Baksh said.

“If we can get over the line there we head into the break at 2-3, which is where we want to be.

“It just shows we can win those close ones as we’ve probably lost those in other weeks.”

The Fretwell Park win is the first time Baksh has recorded a win in the AFL Cairns competition, but the accomplished mentor didn’t spend too much time basking in the glow.

“We’ve been close over the past three games but happy to get the monkey off the back,” Baksh said. “We played well.

“We just dug in. We had a few injuries after halftime – we only had one on the bench which hurt our rotations and a few guys stood up.

“(Lions) ran really well off their halfback line but I thought after halftime we shut that down and controlled the ball a bit more.

“Our forward line’s probably been struggling a bit but we’re slowly working on it and I think it’s coming together.”

Damien Hill showed his class with five goals in that triumph while Cam Ilett was another key in the win against

Lions, but while that win is now in the rear-view mirror and well behind them, they are working on improving.

“We’ve been working on our game structure. Our forward entries, we’ll be working on that pretty big over the next few weeks,” Baksh said.

Cairns City Lions’ search for a second victory this season returns to Holloways Beach for the Dreamtime by the Sea game against North Cairns, while Saints will host Centrals Trinity Beach Bulldogs at Griffiths Park.