Lachie Neale faces final appeal to save Grand Final spot
Brisbane co-captain Lachie Neale will face the AFL Appeals Board at 4pm AEST on Thursday, September 24 in a last bid to play in Saturday's Grand Final against Fremantle. Lose, and the two-time premiership captain misses the decider. Win, and he is cleared for the 2026 Grand Final.
The case centres on the opening quarter of Brisbane's preliminary final against Hawthorn at the MCG. A preliminary final is the last knockout game before the Grand Final. Jack Ginnivan clashed with Brisbane forward Eric Hipwood, then Neale closed in on Ginnivan and Ginnivan went to ground. ABC
The match review officer charged Neale with striking. In footy, striking means hitting an opponent illegally. The charge was graded as intentional conduct, medium impact and body contact. That grading carries a one-match ban.
Neale challenged the ban at the Tribunal on Tuesday night. His counsel argued there was no strike at all. Alternatively, counsel said any contact was negligible and should not draw a suspension.
As a fallback, Neale's team argued there were exceptional and compelling circumstances to overturn the ban even if the offence was proven. Neale gave evidence himself. He said he saw Ginnivan jumper-punching Hipwood and went over to express his disappointment. He described his own contact as more like a bump or body-check.
Neale also said he spoke to Ginnivan on the day of the hearing. He said Ginnivan agreed it was not a strike. Ginnivan was not called to give evidence at the Tribunal. ABC
The AFL argued the action was clearly a strike. It said Neale had run away from the play to reach Ginnivan. Neale's counsel pointed to his record in reply: 320 AFL games and thousands of contests without suspension, plus two Brownlow Medals as the league's best-and-fairest player.
Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC took two and a half hours to decide. He found that at normal speed the incident was a strike to the guts. He upheld the one-match ban.
The Tribunal said new guidelines against gut-punches were intended to stamp out this sort of conduct. It found Neale's clean record did not make the ban inappropriate or unreasonable.
Brisbane confirmed within three minutes that it would appeal to the Appeals Board. The Appeals Board is the AFL's final review step. It does not rehear the whole case. It rules on whether the Tribunal decision should stand.
Neale flew to Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the hearing and spoke briefly at Melbourne Airport. He said he will remain in Melbourne for the Grand Final week regardless. AFL.com.au
For fans, this means Brisbane picks a Grand Final team without knowing if its captain is available. Fremantle already knows its opponent. Everyone else finds out on Thursday evening.
