LIONS ROAR AFTER BUILDING DEPTH
A FOCUS on building depth with the aim of toppling FQPL Far North and Gulf treble champion Edge Hill United has delivered Leichhardt a team that should challenge for the crown in 2022.
The Lions are roaring, a 5-2 win against Stratford at Nick Brko Field improving their record to 3-0 to start the new campaign.
Five different players found the net, including new trio Jamie Gosling, Ramesh Bhandari and Chris Sullivan, a reflection of the work in the off-season to truly go one better this season.
Leichhardt coach Karl Bennett was a shattered man after the grand final loss to the Tigers, but he and the club have made major steps to avoid repeating that feeling again later this year.
That desire has fuelled the good start, with the Lions overcoming the loss of key duo Alex Russell and Dylan Gawronski, and an overall poor performance to still win by a comfortable margin.
“We were so short of players last year that we were calling guys who hadn’t played or trained in weeks to sit on our bench for the semis and final,” Bennett said.
“Losing Seamus (Fowler), there were a lot of goals to make up so we did approach a few players. “But it’s been good. “We’ve had more numbers and depth at training so we’ve actually been able to run through drills and do things we couldn’t last year.”
Elsewhere, Kyle Nichol was credited with five goals for Comets as Southside beat Redlynch Strikers Utd 5-2, Edge Hill Utd beat Innisfail Utd 8-0, as 2021 struggler Marlin Coast maintained its hot start with a 3-0 triumph against Mareeba Utd.