FORMER Horsham RSL Diggers footballer Kye Chapple will enter AFL Cairns’ finals series brimming with confidence off the back of a brilliant maiden season with Port Douglas that yielded 105 goals.
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The 23-year-old’s gigantic effort inside the arc was not enough to clinch the league’s goal-kicking award however, with Chapple pipped by Cairns Saints’ Matthew Walsh, who kicked 107.
Chapple entered the nineties with three rounds to play in the season, but said nerves got the better of him.
“In the third-last round we played the bottom side and I had 10 or 11 to go and I’d kicked 12 or 13 against them the last couple of times, but I played a shocking game,” he said.
“It was good to finally get there. I’ve never done it before.”
Chapple said the impending milestone was certainly a talking point around town.
“I was getting in the paper and people were asking me when I was going to do it,” he said.
When he finally broke the dreaded 99-goal mark, Chapple was swamped by team-mates and supporters.
He also received a special surprise.
“It was a running snap shot on goal,” he said.
“I got pushed to the ground and there was a bloke on top of me and all the boys got around me in a big huddle.
“There were probabaly 70 people that ran onto the ground.
“And my mum surprised me too. She came up and I didn’t know she was there. She ran out onto the ground too.”
Chapple said the manner in which football is played in Queensland certainly favoured marking forwards like himself.
“The ball is always on top of the ground,” he said.
“It’s always dry and warm and there’s lots of skill involved. There’s a lot of opportunity for forwards – a marking forward – like the way I play.
“I’ve been kicking straight and the set shots have been going through.”
The Port Douglas Crocs claimed the minor premiership in 2015 with 16 wins.
They will take on South Cairns in the second semi-final on Saturday.
The Crocs have won their past 12 matches and the side has high hopes for a premiership having welcomed 15 new players at the beginning of the year.
“It took us a while to get to know each other but everyone’s learnt the style of play,” Chapple said.
The Crocs are confident of playing well in the finals series, but are wary of the added pressure the post-season presented.
“We’re looking pretty good,” Chapple said.
“But it’s different in finals. You never know.”
