Loss by off-target Lions ‘not acceptable’

FIRST-YEAR Leopold coach Guy Morphet (pictured) has labelled his side’s 60-point loss to St Mary’s “not acceptable” after the Lions suffered their first defeat of the season.

Leopold was woefully inaccurate, registering a disappointing 4.17 to essentially kick itself out of the contest in the top-three showdown.

“St Mary’s had five more scoring shots for the game and beat us by 10 goals, so it says to me we went inside-50 nearly just as many times, we were getting our hands on the footy, but we couldn’t get the score on the board,” Morphet said.

“Structurally we weren’t on, we got beaten in a lot of areas, we were reactive and second to the ball and it’s just not us. It’s not acceptable.”

In a further blow, Jye Walker and Brandon Howarth both suffered hamstring injuries before halftime, with Morphet admitting “the bye is going to come at a good time” for his side.

Despite the inaccuracy, Morphet praised St Mary’s for forcing the Lions to have shots on goal from difficult positions, which, in the wet conditions, further impacted their accuracy. But he admitted his side did not have enough influential players on the day.

“I’ve told the guys this needs to stick in their head for the rest of the year,” Morphet said. “We had 14 or 15 players that were down and you’re not going to win GFL football like that. We were simply outplayed by a better side who matched us in our style and beat us in every line.”

Morphet also said he was frustrated by a lack of tall forward options, with midfielder Jai Thompson (two goals) the lone multiple goalkicker after being forced to spend large portions of the game as a deep forward.

“We’ve realistically lacked that for the whole year,” he said.

“We did lack that tall target and it frustrates me that we have to try and manipulate those moves.”