Leopold has a chance to erase the disappointment of last year’s Geelong Football League grand final when it takes on South Barwon in the decider on Saturday.
The Polders were beaten by St Mary’s in the 2022 grand final, but stunned on preliminary final day last Saturday winning by 11 points against the minor premiers.
However, Leopold captain and star onballer Marcus Thomsson said the disappointment of last season wasn’t really a factor this time around.
“I think it’s more about looking through a different lens for us,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of changes and obviously there’s no point looking too far back for us. It’s all part of the journey.
“I think when you lose a grand final, you sort of reflect on what you did right and what you did wrong and you just try and learn from it and you move on.
“You go into preseason and you try and find ways to be better. So we think we’ve done that.
“I feel like it’s just a different group, so no doubt we just take those lessons from last year and we look to make the most of them this weekend.”
Thompson’s preparation this year is also vastly different to last season when he was battling injury and wasn’t even sure if he was going to play.
“Last year was a fair bit of work in the week to try and get up for the game, so the body’s feeling really good and I’m just excited to able to actually embrace the whole week.”
Leopold has stormed home to win 14 of its past 16 games, including a tough encounter in warm conditions last week.
Thompson said about 30 players turned up to Eastern Beach for a recovery session after the game on Sunday.
“It was really quite spontaneous,” he said.
“We just sort of put a message out and 30 blokes put the hand up, coming out. The old man was cooking the barbie and he was a bit overwhelmed with the numbers but it was good just to chat to the boys and see how they were all feeling.”
Thompson said having the grand final on his side’s home deck at Leopold would enable the hordes of Polder supporters to attend.
“We’ve put a lot of hard work in to get to a prelim final and a grand final as well, so obviously it’s really exciting,” he said.
“The fact that we get to play on our home deck in a grand final, but at the same time, I’m sure South Barwon could use that as motivation to try and knock us off on our own deck.
“So for us, we’ll just embrace it. I’ve got no doubt the Leopold community will come out in force and they’ll do their part, but it’s important that we’re focused on exactly what we need to.”
While South Barwon’s grand final appearance might have surprised some, skipper Matt Caldow said he always had faith.
“I always believed our group had great potential, just maybe around whether we pick up the game plan quick enough and a new coaching group, new faces,” he said.
“(There is) a lot of belief amongst the group and a really strong character amongst themselves. We had a couple of big games in a row, so it was a good reward to have the week off and set our sights on this week.”
Caldow said the influence of coach Mark Neeld had been profound.
“He’s just really relatable,” he said.
“Really simple in his approach and gets us all on the same page to just keep trying to improve each week.”
Caldow said his side’s strength was that it was even across the board with some genuine match winners thrown in.
“I think one of the strengths of our squad is that we’re relatively even,” he said.
“Everyone’s got a role. They know their role and they play it. But in saying that, someone like a Fraser Fort can stand up and grab a game with a couple of big moments or Andrew Bosley forward.”
South Barwon will take on Leopold at Leopold Memorial Park on Saturday September 23 at 2.10pm and will streamed live at aflbarwon.com.au/barwon-media/afl-barwon-tv
Leopold plays St Mary’s in the reserves beginning at 11.30am.
