For rookie coach Sam Hughes, Leopold’s 91-point Opening Round hiding at the hands of St Joseph’s on Saturday won’t quickly be consigned to the annals of history.
The Polders kicked the first three goals of the contest at Stribling Reserve before spending the rest of the afternoon being dominated by last year’s grand finalists.
Joeys, spearheaded by seven goals from Queanbeyan recruit Jack Jovanovic, made Leopold pay for numerous shallow forward 50 entries, storming to a 21.14 (140) to 7.7 (49) result.
“There’s some really good learning out of it,” Hughes said. “I’d rather do that than not look at it and just say, ‘Oh, it was a bad day on our end’.
“There were some really good things to like from what we put forward, especially early on in the game.
“And then the ability to adapt and be a bit more vigilant, on field and in the coaches’ box, around how we can stem the flow.
“Because teams are going to get on top of us in weeks to come and throughout the year, we’ve got to have an ability to defend that and get the game back on our terms, or at least— know slide the momentum and and be able to use our gears, which you know, at times we did on the weekend, but at other times we weren’t able to.
“We need to review it to be able to learn. We could well be in the same position this week against West or the following against Colac, or, you know, throughout the year.”
Premiership player Billy Ritchie suffered an arm injury that Leopold initially feared was a break.
However, scans have ruled out that scenario.
Hughes could have access to Geelong VFL duo Will Sheahan and youngster Mason Williams.
Sheahan was called up to the Cats last week for their win over Werribee, while Geelong Falcons graduate Williams has had three weeks as Geelong’s 23rd player.
Also in the mix to take on the Giants on Sunday at West Oval are South Australian recruit Lachie Nash, who was serving a suspension from his previous club, South Warrnambool recruit Jed Henderson, and experienced defender Jett Matthews.
X: @krockfootball
