Justin Leppitsch


Justin Leppitsch is a former professional Australian rules footballer and the former coach of the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League.

Early life

Leppitsch was raised in Berwick, Victoria. In 1992, he played in the newly established VSFL Under-18 competition with Southern Stingrays, where he was runner-up for the Morrish Medal, and caught the attention of Brisbane Bears talent scouts. He was selected by Brisbane at pick 4 in the 1992 AFL Draft.

AFL career

He made his debut in 1993 for the Bears as a 17-year-old, but was then dropped back to play for West Brisbane where he hurt his knee and required a complete knee reconstruction. He was unable to play football for 15 months.
His breakout season was in 1999 under new coach Leigh Matthews, when he won the Brisbane Best and Fairest award, was selected as All-Australian for the first time and represented Australia in International Rules.
Under Matthews, Leppitsch became a key component of the Lions spine, playing centre half back in the club's three premiership sides from 2001 to 2003 and earned All-Australian status three times.
Late in his career, Leppitsch battled a chronic hamstring-related back injury which inevitably ended his career due to the resulting calf muscle wastage. He announced his immediate retirement from the AFL on 5 June 2006.
He was inducted into the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame in 2012.

Coaching career

In October 2006, Leppitsch had accepted a position as an assistant coach with the Brisbane Lions. He later signed with Richmond to be an assistant coach in September 2009. In September 2013, Leppitsch signed a three-year contract to be the senior coach of the Brisbane Lions.
On 29 August 2016, Leppitsch was sacked by the Lions after three seasons with the club, despite being granted a one-year contract extension at the start of the year which would have seen him remain at the club until the end of the 2017 season.
On 6 October 2016, Leppitsch returned to Richmond as an assistant coach. Twelve months after being sacked as coach of the Brisbane Lions, he played a major role in the club's 2017 AFL premiership win, coaching the forwards.

Statistics

Playing statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1993
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1994
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1995
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1996
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1997
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1998
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1999
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2000
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2001
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2002
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2003
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2004
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2005
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2006
! colspan=3| Career
! 227
! 194
! 134
! 1893
! 879
! 2772
! 1020
! 278
! 0.9
! 0.6
! 8.3
! 3.9
! 12.2
! 4.5
! 1.2

Coaching statistics

! scope="row" style="font-weight:normal"|2014
! scope="row" style="font-weight:normal"|2015
! scope="row" style="font-weight:normal"|2016
! colspan=2| Career totals
! 66
! 14
! 52
! 0
! 21.2%
! colspan=2|