Leopold loss ‘hurts whole club’

LEOPOLD coach Guy Morphet admits yesterday’s thrashing finals loss is hard to take after his side was wiped off GMHBA Stadium by a rampant St Mary’s.

For the second year in a row, the Lions have been bundled out of a finals series without a victory, after being completely outplayed in the second half of the elimination final.

Leopold kicked just a single goal after half-time, after trailing by just 13 points at the main break before being opened up.

“It’s not easy to swallow,” Morphet lamented after the 21.11 (137) to 7.5 (47) loss.

“It hurts the whole club, it’s not just us that’s hurting.

“There’s a lot of good people in our football club, and a lot of them deserve better than that performance today.

“It’s two years in a row where we’ve come and haven’t really fired a shot.

“We need to have a good hard look where we’re at as a collective and put some things in place to move forward.”

Leopold did well to respond after conceding the opening three goals of the match, and enjoyed the best of a freeflowing second term, but couldn’t fully make the most of its chances.

St Mary’s pair Doug Bond and Damian McMahon both goaled before the main change to take the momentum into dominant second half.

“They smashed us in all areas,” said Morphet, who also called out some of his players’ sub-par fitness levels postgame.

“At half-time we were in the game. But then it was like someone had flicked a switch after half-time, and it felt a bit helpless. I looked at the other coaches and said, ‘I don’t know what to do’. We had no answers.”

Daniel Pitcher was Leopold’s best in defence. Sam Boyd also said the defeat would be his last game, with the veteran forward announcing his retirement post-match.