“Pleasure and pain”: Leopold’s year-long road to redemption

A SEVEN-GOAL flurry at the start of this year’s Geelong Football League Grand Final provided the perfect catalyst for Leopold to secure its first premiership in seven years.

Leopold led South Barwon from the opening bounce, establishing a four-goal lead by the first quarter break, and ultimately running away with the game by 50 points (13.16.94 to 6.8.44).

Lions coach Garry Hocking said it was a mixture of pleasure and pain to go one step further than its Grand Final defeat last year to St Mary’s.

“The boys were awesome, set the tone in the first five minutes, strong inside and getting the ball on the outside, getting the handball game going and just going right at South Barwon, it’s what we wanted to do straight out of the gate,” Hocking said after the game.

“Last year’s Grand Final, we were probably running out of legs, this year we just felt strong and put the game on the moon we would have made it happen.

“Lachie McPherson did a terrific job over the season to get these blokes conditioned, and we never had the team at full strength throughout the year.

“But with win, with each win in finals, our belief grew, but we still didn’t think we had reached our ceiling ahead of the Grand Final, we had more to squeeze out of the lemon.”

Leopold squeezed out all it had left with 29 scoring shots, 13 of which found the big sticks, led by departing forward Mitchell Patten’s game-high four goals to take his finals tally to 15.

Patten and his partner will make the voyage up to Burleigh Heads in the coming months, leaving behind the Leopold community, at least temporarily.

“I can’t believe we’ve done it, it’s just such a good feeling to leave the club on a high and give back to the people of Leopold,” Patten said.

“It’s just pure relief, especially after last year’s disappointment, we wanted to come out really strong in this year’s game, and the mids got on top early, which made my job in front of goal a lot easier.”

Leopold became the third team in GFL history to power through four-straight finals wins to claim the league premiership.

It is also a second career flag for skipper Marcus Thompson, who was just 21 during the 2016 flag.

“The difference for me this year compared to 2016, as I spoke about pre-game, is understanding that those previous losses and Grand Final defeats are all part of the journey,” Thompson said.

“You’ve just got to bounce back and put yourselves back out there, it is daunting, and it is scary, but at the end of the day the reward of getting it all right and winning a flag feels so bloody good.

“I’ll be able to soak this up a bit more in the next few days, I’ll definitely celebrate this one and reflect on what it all means.”

Leopold’s Logan Wagener was named best on ground for his efforts in the midfield.