A STELLAR YEAR
TAIPANS boss Mark Beecroft has called for Cairns to be painted orange as the NBL finals returns to the Far North.
The Snakes were given little hope of making the playoffs during the pre-season and have created history by reaching the finals, becoming the first team ever to lose their first three games of the cam Cairns at the time,” Beecroft said.
“We went through to the grand final series that year, we have been beaten in two grand finals series, so hopefully it will be third time lucky.
“As a club, it galvanises the city of Cairns, the town was painted in orange the last time we went this far and we would love to see that again. It validates everything we do through the year and this season has been tough.
“The schedule always had us be pressive fashion. The Taipans enter post-season as clearly the hottest team, winning four out of their past five games in the run home and now face Perth, the most successful team in NBL history.
After missing the playoffs last campaign, the club will return to the business end of the season for the first time since they made the grand final in 2014-15.
Cairns Convention Centre will host the first game of the semi final
“It has lots of benefits for the club and what is rewarding is the benefit it brings to the city of Cairns,” Beecroft said.
“It will bring a recognition and a spotlight to the city from an national and international attention perspective. It is a great thing for us.
“The NBL has structured the semi-finals this season to give it time and build momentum towards game three if it goes that far.”
The first game of the finals will The 2017 FNQ Football season was the ultimate battle between experience and youthful exuberance.
This time, the young guns won.
Southside Comets excelled this season as a club but the Premier Men led the way, coming together to overhaul powerhouse clubs and win the premiership- championship double.
Most of the players had been together since juniors and a lot of them under Chris Collins as coach, who was also in charge to help the even younger Premier Women to the finals. SOUTHS have dominated the Cairns Hockey women’s Agrade competition for quite a few years now but they really earned it this year.
The club had a huge turnover of players after two undefeated seasons, leaving a young team of little A-grade experience.
The Caitlyn Whipp-led Souths didn’t have top spot sealed until the last round of the regular season, in one of the tightest races in the history of the competition.
The grand final, too, could have gone either way. Saints threw everything at the defending champions, but Souths held firm and took it to a penalty shootout.
Souths goalkeeper Layla Parker was the hero and awarded player of the match for her part in the 3-1 shootout win. SAINTS made it back-to-back CNA Division 1 crowns in 2017 as they outlasted the persistent Sharks by 10 goals in an entertaining grand final.
Saints, who claimed the minor premiership, broke away from the plucky Sharks in the third term after a tight and tense first half in the decider.
It was just a four-point Saints lead at halftime before it was extended to 11, 31-20, at the final change in the low-scoring tussle.
Saints held on to claim their fifth title since the club was founded in 2009.