Leopold focus not on spate of injuries

THERE is no “doom and gloom” at Leopold despite the footy gods delivering a rash of unlucky injuries.

Lucas Boyd, Darcy Keast, Marcus Thompson, Mitch Howard and Riley Coghlan are sidelined with broken bones in their hands.

Kieran Fulton will not be seen indefinitely as he deals with concussion side effects from a car crash.

Premiership captain Jai Thompson is set to undergo surgery on the ACL he ruptured before Christmas and Tom Feely will also visit surgeons with a shoulder issue.

The seemingly never-ending list of injuries played a part in Leopold’s 53-point loss to Grovedale last weekend.

Ahead of another vital game for its finals hopes against Bell Park on Saturday, coach Jason Tom (pictured) said there were no negative thoughts at Memorial Park.

“Our group is resilient,” he said. “We do a lot of work on our mindset and how we approach it. We have a bit of a saying at Leopold of ‘What next?’. As in, ‘What would we do next?’.

“With injuries, that allows a lot of opportunities and a lot of guys who are playing senior footy, they might not have expected their opportunity yet.

“I have not felt doom and gloom or disappointment in our footy at the moment. We are just going to keep working hard.”

Tom said it was tough for those sidelined after sitting out all of 2020 because of coronavirus, but the injured Lions had bought into helping out around the club.

“It is tough for the guys; they have put the work in during the COVID season and they are itching to get back and just play,” Tom said.

“The good thing is that they have still been involved around the club. Darcy Keast ran water last weekend, Marcus Thompson has been our runner, so they have still been involved in the club and that is important.”