Leopold has continued its impressive run against South Barwon, with a seven-goal final-quarter burst helping the two-time reigning premier to a 42-point win at McDonald Reserve.
The Lions’ 14.8 (92) to 7.8 (50) victory extended their winning run over their grand final opponents of the past two seasons to eight, while remaining unbeaten on the Swans’ home turf in five meetings since 2018.
Assistant coach Tim Connolly, who took charge of Leopold due to Luke Kelly’s absence due to work commitments, says he’s unsure why Leopold has dominated South for so long.
“It’s one of those things I just can’t put a finger on,” he told K rock Football. “We seem to, for whatever reason, match up really well against them.
“I keep more of an eye on the front half usually. But we’ve got really, really capable defenders that we back in all the time.
“And when our mids are on, you put some pressure on the ball going inside their 50, which allows our backs to sort of be a bit more aggressive in their positioning.
“And when you’ve got guys like Harris (Jennings), and obviously we’ve had guys like Tev (Nofi), it makes it a bit easier because they can just catch the thing out of nowhere.
“So they just back themselves in the air.”
South Barwon won the toss and elected to kick with a strong northerly breeze favouring the Clairvaux Primary School end of he ground.
However, the Swans could only manage one goal from seven deliberate attempts on goal, with the visitors managing two majors for a two-point lead at the first change.
Young winger Ethan Borys kicked two goals for South in the first ten minutes of the quarter, either side of a Connor Giddings goal for the Lions, to give the home team a three-point lead.
However, a 15-minute arm wrestle, where only two behinds were scored, Leopold found three goals in time-on, including the first of four for the afternoon from veteran Sam Scott, to go into half-time with an 18-point buffer.
After a scrappy start to the third quarter, where neither team scored for 12 minutes, it took Lions youngster Darcy Brislane to break the deadlock and give his team a 24-point advantage.
South Barwon enjoyed its most dominant period of the match in the final ten minutes of the third quarter, sparked by a first career goal from Tom Burke following a 50m penalty.
Leigham Elzinga and Matt Caldow were also accurate in front of goal, cutting the margin to five points at three-quarter time.
However, Leopold took full advantage of the wind at its back in the final term, and never looked back after Riley Stone kicked an impressive running goal in the opening 20 seconds.
Connolly says Leopold benefited from the return of Tylar Watts, who shared ruck duties with Kyle Bumpstead, while also resting forward to provide a second tall option alongside Connor Giddings.
“Poor ‘Giddo’, the last couple of weeks, has been essentially one out as a tall,” he said.
“And we haven’t used the ball well, which has allowed the opponent’s talls to roll off. And Giddo’s been flying 1v2, 1v3.
“To have ‘Wattsy’ there helps a lot with the structure.
But the boys are smart. They know what we’ve got ahead of the ball.
“So it’s one kick, one handball, whatever it might be. Once you’re out, look up. Get it down there before the oppo(sition) can roll back.
There’s times when you can, there’s times when you can’t, but they were very smart with how they went about it today.”
The win improves Leopold’s record to 3-3, but they remain percentage outside the top five ahead of the first bye.
Captain Marcus Thompson, fellow midfielder Tate Porter, and defender Harris Jennings were standouts for the Poldas, who face the struggling Lara after the bye.
Despite the loss, South, which listed Ethan Borys, Fraser Fort and Lachie Weidemann among its best, remains fifth.
The Swans cross the breakwater for a meeting with St Albans in Round 7.
Newtown & Chilwell has maintained its one-game break in third spot on the ladder following a 22-point win over St Albans at Elderslie Reserve.
The Towners trailed by nine points at half-time after Supersaints kicked five goals to one in the second quarter.
However, Steve Johnson’s men kept the home team scoreless in the third term while kicking four goals to set up the 10.12 (72) to 7.8 (50) result.
Kyabram recruit Mitch Dodos and youngster Ben Pennisi each kicked three goals for the Eagles.
At the other end, Tom Higgins finished with three majors for the Supersaints.
A five-goal haul from Geelong VFL-listed forward Jack Sarcevic has helped Bell Park to a 62-point win over Geelong West at Hamlyn Park.
Sarcevic kicked four of his majors in the final term, as the Dragons went from leading by 13 points to claiming a 13.11 (89) to 4.3 (27) victory.
Jacob Nihill and Steve Bensted were also crucial for Bell Park.
Recruit August Stelma and the experienced Ethan Liddle battled hard for the Giants.
Grovedale has made light work of North Shore at Windsor Park thanks to a seven-goal haul from veteran big man Ryan Abbott, posting a 130-point win.
The Tigers took control of the contest early, leading by 33 points at quarter time, before storming to a 23.20 (158) to 4.4 (28) victory.
Bailey McDonald’s solid start to the season continued, with three goals taking him to 13, with Tyler Cummins and Jack Caia their best.
Declan Clark kicked two goals for the Seagulls, who posted their highest score of the season.
Veteran Joffy Simpkin kicked four goals as Colac took care of Lara by 101 points at Central Reserve.
After a tight first quarter, the Tigers pulled away for a 17.17 (119) to 2.6 (18) result that has them sitting fourth on the ladder.
Despite quietly being granted an extra two points under the player points system, Lara, without former AFL player Majak Daw and fellow recruit Shaggy Bol, played six points under their revised limit of 46.
The final match of Round 6 is the blockbuster Big Freeze Geelong battle between unbeaten St Mary’s and arch-rivals St Joseph’s at Anthony Costa Oval next Sunday.
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