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Leopold has returned to the top three for the first time since Round 8, 2012, thanks to an impressive 68-point wet-weather win against GWSP.
The Lions have remained undefeated at home this year (and for five consecutive games overall) and coach Steve Clark revealed the victory was his side’s most promising.
“I thought today was as good as we’ve won in those conditions. Everyone was up for the contest, we didn’t try to over use it so from a structure point of view it was as good as we’ve played,” Clark said.
Werribee recruit Tom Ruggles was a standout in the first half as Leopold stamped is authority on the contest.
“His (Ruggles) ability to control the backline was superb because he doesn’t want to stand out, he’ll just do all the little things and he played his heart out for us; playing tall or small,” Clark said.
“He was playing and training with the Interleague team as well so we’ve been trying to lighten his workload during the week.”
Fellow first-year recruit Simon Close registered the opening goal of the match, as well as his side’s last a few moments after landing from a jaw-dropping screamer mark.
“Closey didn’t move down here until about Round 1 so he was really finding his feet the last few weeks. He’s really starting to come to the fore now through his fluency and his understanding of how we play,’’ Clark said.
“Even though Marcus Thompson has always been a Lion, we didn’t get to see much of him last year because of the Geelong Falcons and he has given us some drive in the backline there.
“The same goes for Sam Scott with the North Ballarat VFL side, we only had him for one game last year and he’s been great for us as well.”
Teenager Joshua Matsubara received a hero’s applause when he kicked his first senior goal for Leopold, an accolade matched by GWSP debutant Brad Wood.
“We wanted to get something out of the game because we have Lara next week and we expect to win. We wanted to come off the ground winning at least one quarter and we did just that,” GWSP coach Terry Bright said after his team at one stage trailed 85 to 15.
“They got us early in the first quarter. I thought we started OK but it was just their class that got us in the end; they (Leopold) were very impressive today.”
The Roosters will welcome back Patrick Eastman (soreness) and Leye Meleisea (boxing) next week as they look to end their five-game losing streak.
Clark’s team will look to entrench itself in the top three when it takes on fellow contender St Mary’s in the match of the round.
“I’m not surprised (of our ladder position) in any way shape or form. You can actually physically see reward for effort by looking at the ladder but it’s not something that we speak about,” Clark said.
“We have a really good understanding of our game and what roles we need to play.’’
