Leopold will be forced into at least two changes for Saturday’s meeting with Newtown & Chilwell, with premiership duo Riley Stone and Kyle Bumpstead sidelined.
Stone is unlikely to be seen again until the second half of the season after suffering a broken hand in last week’s loss to Bell Park.
While Bumpstead has stitches in his foot after an accident in his backyard, where it’s believed he stood on a star picket.
“He essentially sliced the bottom of his foot,” coach Sam Hughes said.
“He’ll be missing this week. It’s going to be a wait-and-see on how long that takes to heal.
“He hasn’t done any major damage, but it’s uncomfortable, as you can imagine.”
Stone was due to go under the knife after suffering a break late in the defeat by the Dargons.
“He’s got to get a rod put in it, and that’s got to stay in for about seven weeks,” Hughes said.
“He will be out for that amount of time, but still, he’s pretty keen to stay fit, and he can do that with a hand.
“But it’s unfortunate for him that he will miss some footy because he was just starting to get going after not much pre-season due to cricket.”
Tatura recruit Adam Enever, who hasn’t played at senior level since the Opening Round loss to St Joseph’s, looms as the replacement for Bumpstead.
While Lochie Nash will come in for Stone, who missed last week after returning home to South Australia.
However, Nic Ash and Billy Ritchie remain sidelined.
Leopold is looking forward to the challenge the unbeaten Eagles will present, and Hughes is keen for a similar response to the one his players produced after the hammering by Joeys at Lorne.
“We had some games that we wanted to win, and we did win,” he said.
“But it is a big test, and we’ve taken some learnings out at Bell Park, especially that last quarter. and other parts of the day where they looked to get on top of us.
“We’ll take those learnings again into Newtown because they are a pretty classy outfit all over the ground and especially around the footy and how they get from inside to outside of stoppage.
“We’re pretty keen to get to work this week and try and match up against them as best as we can.”
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