Tigers assert control in win

North Cairns’ Isaac Rokeby steps past an opponent in the Tigers’ 67-point victory over Port Douglas. AN early arm-wrestle turned into another comfortable win for the Tigers, who got their bite back in a 67-point defeat of nearest rivals Port Douglas at home on Saturday afternoon.

It was tough going in a fierce first quarter, and Port looked the better of the sides with Dylan Wearmouth darting through the midfield and their big forwards kicking truly.

Slowly but surely Norths reeled the Crocs in though, taking the lead in the second quarter and stretching it in the third to run away with their eighth win of the season 20.19 (139) to 10.12 (72).

Brendan Tennick backed up well after last weekend’s representative trip, setting up play from the wing before moving forward to kick eight goals.

Adam Mueller continued his great season, dropping into defence to quell Port’s run.

Tigers’ captain-coach Kane Richter, who struggled at half time with a mysterious bout of nausea, commended his team’s f i t n e s s and their accountability.

‘‘It took a while to get the better of them; they’ve got some quality players,’’ he said.

‘‘We changed things up a bit, gave ourselves some space and it was good to see we are running games out well.’’

He said the coaching staff had used the game day statistics to make players aware and accountable for their errors and efforts this season.

‘‘ Things like uncontested possessions and tackling pressure are big things,’’ he said.

‘‘We go through the videos and each player has a pretty clear goal for the game.’’