The former Hamilton Imperials premiership coach has the chance to guide the Crocs to their third consecutive Cairns AFL premiership on Saturday when they take on the Cairns Saints.

It would be their fourth flag in five years under his watch.

The Port Douglas coach revealed almost a decade with Imperials, who merged with Hamilton to form the now Hamilton Kangaroos, helped him set the club up the way it is.

"We have pretty much modeled the club on a country Victorian club, and I spent eight years at Imps and that went hand-in-hand because I really rated the Imps culture,” he said.

"Players worked hard around the club and we had success, playing in four grand finals with one flag.

"So I just re-emulate that through here to a certain extent, so that's the way the club went three or four years ago and we are starting to get the benefits of it now.

“And I really rate our culture here at the moment and I am really proud of the people that have helped build it.”

Cooper, who is in a six-year stint at the helm of the Crocs, said when president and founder of the the club Ian Smith stepped away was when he decided to put the ‘Imps blueprint’ in place.

The 46-year-old approached a fellow former Victorian by the name of Greg Nicholson to be president and help execute the plan.

“We sat down and discussed how we should set the club up long term and what we should do and wanted to leave a bit of a legacy so to speak,” he said.

"Not just in regards to be successful on the field but how we set the club up for ongoing success and making it a lot easier on our workers and volunteers.

"So we talked and he is a Melbourne boy and I am a country boy and I sold the country side of things.”

Cooper said the country-club element continued to be a key pillar in the Crocs’ culture and a focus in how the club operated day to day.

The three-time Port Douglas premiership coach said that was especially the case when it came to recruiting, stating the Crocs targeted recruits from country Victoria – the Horsham area more recently.

"We rely pretty heavily on our sponsors, so it is fairly important our players understand that and respect the town,” he said.

"When you get guys from the smaller country areas they understand that straight off the bat.

"Whereas if you get recruits from the city you really need to sit them down and knuckle it into them that there are repercussions socially and things like that.

"But touch wood we have had a fairly good run the last few years i think our reputation has been building throughout the community and we give back a lot.”