Leppitsch was released from the final year of his contract on Monday after after the club finished 17th.

The Lions recorded just three wins this season.

“I think the club’s in good shape and it would be a really good job to go for now. You’ve got some really got bookends that are still young,” he said on Channel 9’s The Footy Show.

“I would have liked to have got on with phase two, which is what I presented to the board. Phase one was getting the talent on the list, now it’s about growing and developing and having that run at finals.”

Leppitsch said although he was initially disappointed and angry with the board's decision, he understood the club needed to go in a different direction.

"Obviously, it was disappointing early, but there's a great realisation in this game that we're all just passing parades," he said.

“I’m a pretty resilient type of guy. It happens when you grow up with red hair.

"There's been disappointment, there's been levels of inevitability at times and there's been other times I've felt disappointed that this process has happened, but it's also part of the big picture of the footy club and the club is bigger than any individual.

"The most-important thing is that our football club has a united front going forward.”