Leopold welcomes a favourite son to coaching fold

LEOPOLD has welcomed back a favourite son to the club as senior coach for the 2020 season, with Jason Tom replacing outgoing mentor Guy Morphet.

Tom, who played in Bannockburn’s premiership this year, was a Lions junior and served as a playing assistant to former coach Steve Clark in 2013 and 2014.

The key forward, who also starred in attack at Geelong Amateur in the BFL, has retired from playing but returns as Leopold looks to build on its fifth-place finish from this year.

It has named former Geelong half-forward and dual GFL premiership coach Paul Lynch as its new head of coaching, while Sam Hughes has officially taken the reins as assistant coach.

Lynch had played a helping hand at the Lions throughout 2019 and will essentially be a coach for all of the club’s coaches during the week and on game day, while Hughes was one of the masterminds behind Leopold’s preChristmas training program.

The Lions had been hellbent during its search for a replacement on finding a group of coaches capable of sharing the increasing number of responsibilities required of a GFL senior coach.

The club’s off-season to date had been led by Hughes and a combination of assistant coaches and members of the leadership group, including Jeremy Larcombe, Tom Ruggles, Craig Johnson, Paul Kelly, Conor Guina and Sam Scott, but Tom and Lynch will now get together to formulate a plan of attack for the new year.

Tom, who had been set to coach Bannockburn’s under-19s team in 2020, will be aiming to take the Lions to their first finals win since the breakthrough flag in 2016.

Leopold finished fourth on the GFL ladder this year — and in 2017 — but was knocked out the premiership race in the elimination final by eventual premier St Mary’s. In 2018 it finished two games clear on top of the ladder but was eliminated in straight sets.