Changes reap rewards as slick Saints deliver
A shift in playing style and buy-in from across the team is the secret behind Saints’ hot start to the AFL Cairns season.
Saints are on top of the table with four wins from as many games as they seek a return to the AFL Cairns decider – and a breakthrough premiership.
Any thought of the big dance is very much on the backburner for now, with coach Wes Glass and his troops taking their campaign one performance at a time as they settle on the most effective line-up and style to get the results.
Saints’ usual suspects like skipper Dylan McConachy, and strike weapons Cade Wellington, Adam Gross and Zac Straker, have been among the premier performers, but it’s taken a true team effort to deliver their perfect start.
Wellington and Gross have combined for 35 goals between them (18 and 17 respectively), while Straker has 10 to be fifth a year after he was a joint runner-up for the Matthew Walsh Medal with Gross.
And, based on the way they have started the season, Glass doesn’t expect that to change as he utilises all three key weapons up front.
“Dyl doesn’t really surprise me but he’s been very impressive,” Glass said. “He puts in the work and he gets the reward.
“But even our younger kids and that have stepped up this year and that puts a bit of pressure on the older guys.
“Zac is playing a bit of a different role this year, he’s taken that on board and has been playing pretty well.
“The first year Zac came up he was in the midfield, it was only last year he went up forward.
“We knew the opposition would put more time into Zac this year so we changed it up so it frees him up more, frees up Adam a bit more, frees up Cade – it’s freeing the boys a bit more so our forward line is more dangerous when we have four or five kicking goals, you don’t know who is going to kick them each week.
“They’re buying into what we’re doing, we’re not about ourselves, we’re just chipping away and trying to get the wins, do what we can for the first half of the year.”
Glass masterminded his side’s 15-point win against Port Douglas last week which ended the Crocs’ perfect start to the season, and while there were a few sore bodies out of the top-of-the-table clash, he has his side humming for Saturday’s test with the Centrals Trinity Beach Bulldogs.
The fourth-year coach, who won an AFL Cairns flag with Port Douglas before taking the reins at Saints in 2020, said he expected a tough match.
“Most teams, when we play, they load up, get all of their flyins for us so I expect them to be full strength,
“It should be a good hitout. “They have some very handy players when they have everyone there.
“It’s just training habits. We’ve trained pretty hard for three or four months, some really solid sessions,” Glass said.
“That helps but everyone’s buying in to what we’re doing as well.”
AFL Cairns will celebrate Indigenous Round this weekend, with many clubs wearing custom guernseys.
Cairns City Lions will host North Cairns Tigers in the Dreamtime By The Sea match at Holloways Beach, while the Cutters host Manunda.