Sport
16 March, 2026
Crocs ready
THE Port Douglas Crocs side are in full preparation as the round one Good Friday clash against defending premiers North Cairns Tigers quickly approaches.
After a huge offseason for the Crocs re-signing multi premiership winning coach Brad Cooper and securing an array of young talent, the squad was eager to hit the training track and prepare for a bounce back 2026 season.
After a near-perfect 2025 season the Crocs ultimately fell short of that desired premiership glory, going out in straight sets during their final series.
With the Crocs bleeding success as a club, they wasted no time bringing back their young core to continue building for the future, but also re-hired Cooper to hopefully get the club back to the top of the mountain.
With the season just over three weeks from starting the Crocs have ramped up their preseason preparations, most notably the players taking on the dreaded preseason flagstaff hill run.
The Crocs now plan to hit the park with hopefully no more weather interruptions to blow out any of last year’s cobwebs that might still be there.
The Crocs know that they’ve got a huge challenge to start the season facing a North Cairns Tigers side, fresh from breaking their premiership drought, are eager to continue their success.
This season brings many different milestone opportunities too, with a variety of players looking to hit their match-played totals. Club champion Kye Chapple is also only 83 goals short of reaching the 1000 goal mark and the club is keen to see him in the AFL Cairns record books.
With the talent pool around the league consistently growing with former AFL, VFL, WAFL and SANFL players, the Crocs are aware of how tough the competition is getting.
But they will take each week as it comes and hopefully reign supreme again.
