Recommitted Lachie Neale [RFA 2026] - name was floated for a move in 2025, stayed

[Elixuh]

With all due to respect hes almost 34 and his body is showing classic slowdown signs. You are 5 years off contending at least bringing in a player of his age is absolutely pointless. If it was leadership for pick 100 sure but Brisbane will want a r1 and no way should wce be trading good picks for old guys.

He’s 2 years away from being 34

 

[Tugga27]

He came back from a 6 week injury in 5 weeks which explains being underdone and injuring the calf. He otherwise played 21 games this season which in context is excellent.

We had a short offseason.

He didn’t do a full preseason with recovery from the plantar injury and was in doubt for the start of the season.

We had an unrelenting draw this year. The most difficult on record. And he wasn’t managed at all.

Fair enough.
All valid reasons but will still be watch for next year for mine.

 

[Spirit Level]

Feel free to prove that she is from WA

Lol what?

I work with her brother (Lachies brother in law), both are definitely born and bred in WA

That good enough for you

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Feel free to prove that she is from WA

It doesn't matter if she's from WA or not, what matters is her family and friends are there, and this has been well established. Pretty much every Lions fan is aware Lachie will move back to Perth once his career at the Lions finishes.

 

[AstonSouffle]

Feel free to prove that she is from WA

Considering most of this thread is probably nonsense, it takes a special lack of awareness to still exceed all that nonsense with conviction and confidence while being completely factually wrong

Legit question to all because I don't actually follow footballers lives, do they have a second kid on the way? Probably explains it - the amount of times I've had to tell No.2 to stop climbing highest point possible and not jump off it is unreal

 

[Barrybran]

Considering most of this thread is probably nonsense, it takes a special lack of awareness to still exceed all that nonsense with conviction and confidence while being completely factually wrong

Legit question to all because I don't actually follow footballers lives, do they have a second kid on the way? Probably explains it - the amount of times I've had to tell No.2 to stop climbing highest point possible and not jump off it is unreal

Have you considered signing your kid up for wrestling?

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

With all due to respect hes almost 34 and his body is showing classic slowdown signs. You are 5 years off contending at least bringing in a player of his age is absolutely pointless. If it was leadership for pick 100 sure but Brisbane will want a r1 and no way should wce be trading good picks for old guys.

Literally crack addicts for chucking away picks for older players.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Legit question to all because I don't actually follow footballers lives, do they have a second kid on the way? Probably explains it - the amount of times I've had to tell No.2 to stop climbing highest point possible and not jump off it is unreal

Neale's second kid has already been born.

 

[Elite Pete]

If true surely it’s similar to the Sam Mitchell to Eagles deal? Brissy are covered in that area and would free up cap. Neale get a huge super contribution and maybe go into coaching after 2 years?

 

[bzparkes]

Who cares that he has a year left on his contract

 

[bzparkes]

With all due to respect hes almost 34 and his body is showing classic slowdown signs. You are 5 years off contending at least bringing in a player of his age is absolutely pointless. If it was leadership for pick 100 sure but Brisbane will want a r1 and no way should wce be trading good picks for old guys.

Brisbane ain't getting a r1 pick for a bloke soon to be 34.

He's about as good as Mitchell was when we traded for him but obviously we'd need to pay more than a pick swap of third and 4th rounders, solely due to being contracted.

 

[eaglevision]

With all due to respect hes almost 34 and his body is showing classic slowdown signs. You are 5 years off contending at least bringing in a player of his age is absolutely pointless. If it was leadership for pick 100 sure but Brisbane will want a r1 and no way should wce be trading good picks for old guys.

Lachie will be 33yo in May, there’s no way the Lions would expect a 1R pick. Their midfield is stacked and Annable coming in too, Fletcher is easily good enough to transition, so is Marshall. If Brisbane get Lachie’s salary off the books they can match Starcevich which will hopefully put us off as well as pay for Oscar, Draper and god knows who else. Lachie gets another year and then a coaching gig.

If it happens it’s Neale for Hawks 3R and handshake agreement on no bidding.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Brisbane ain't getting a r1 pick for a bloke soon to be 34.

He's about as good as Mitchell was when we traded for him but obviously we'd need to pay more than a pick swap of third and 4th rounders, solely due to being contracted.

I dont disagree with you but they aren't trading him.for late picks they may as well just hold him to the contract.

 

[bzparkes]

I dont disagree with you but they aren't trading him.for late picks they may as well just hold him to the contract.

They need to free up cap space for some of their other targets and as good as he is, they already have replacements on the list(Ashcrofts/Marshall) or about to come in(Annable).

Brisbane's midfield is fine if he leaves, it's their forward line that's the issue, which is what they're attempting to solve by bringing in OAllen. As good as Morris has been, he's not really a #1 key forward and Day's just a stopgap until Allen joins.

 

[Cactus_]

Probably not this year but Brisbane should let WCE have him of the cheap next year

Even without him Brisbane are going to be struggling to give all their champion midfielders a run in the middle

Good for football

 

[Elite Pete]

Probably not this year but Brisbane should let WCE have him of the cheap next year

Even without him Brisbane are going to be struggling to give all their champion midfielders a run in the middle

Good for football

Next week or three might tell the story. If they win a flag without him plus another top 5 pick mid incoming.

 

[Cactus_]

Next week or three might tell the story. If they win a flag without him plus another top 5 pick mid incoming.

A couple of old hands would be good additions at the eagles but you shouldn’t give up anything significant for them – even if it wasn’t Neale – a couple of mature bodies with good work ethics would go a long way for your development

 

[Barrybran]

Probably not this year but Brisbane should let WCE have him of the cheap next year

Even without him Brisbane are going to be struggling to give all their champion midfielders a run in the middle

Good for football

For us, I think it's a now or never proposition. We need another senior body in the midfield to help the kids. Give it another 12 months and they should be starting to be competitive without that senior body around.

 

[Elite Pete]

A couple of old hands would be good additions at the eagles but you shouldn’t give up anything significant for them – even if it wasn’t Neale – a couple of mature bodies with good work ethics would go a long way for your development

Yeah mids in particular. Cant have 4 x 20-22yo running the midfield again. Even if this year would’ve helped long term.

The club has been vocal in this publicly but no real links yet. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

[Dom PC]

Freo would have played in a prelim or two in the last few years had they traded for him a few years ago (and still be looking well stocked for continued success now). Good example of the pitfalls of over valuing youth/draft picks over quality players/leaders, even the older ones (he wasnt even that old from memory - 29?).

There is a good touch of irony that Brisbane got to play in GF's massively because of Neale, while Freo fans got excited over draft picks and the hope of future success some time in the future (3 years on and they are still waiting).

Hopefully Neale stays and WCE find someone else to be that Luke Hodge type of person, but it'd be a smart investment by them imo if they could pry him out of Brisbane. Not sure Brisbane would let our best midfielder go while contending for nothing but (even at 32. At a guess a future 2nd rd pick... who really knows but.

 

[JasRulz63]

They need to free up cap space for some of their other targets and as good as he is, they already have replacements on the list(Ashcrofts/Marshall) or about to come in(Annable).

Brisbane's midfield is fine if he leaves, it's their forward line that's the issue, which is what they're attempting to solve by bringing in OAllen. As good as Morris has been, he's not really a #1 key forward and Day's just a stopgap until Allen joins.

I can't imagine we're making free agency offers on an off chance that Neale wants to leave.

Regardless of if Neale stays or goes, I imagine Allen is joining Brisbane.

McCluggage has taken over the mantle as Brisbane's best midfielder, and now cops most of the attention. Neale with a decent pre season and hopefully fit running around with less attention could do some damage.

We're still in premiership mode this season, and unless we need to lose Neale to get other stuff done (which I doubt), I don't see why he's worth letting go for a packet of chips.

 

[schmuttt]

I can't imagine we're making free agency offers on an off chance that Neale wants to leave.

Regardless of if Neale stays or goes, I imagine Allen is joining Brisbane.

McCluggage has taken over the mantle as Brisbane's best midfielder, and now cops most of the attention. Neale with a decent pre season and hopefully fit running around with less attention could do some damage.

We're still in premiership mode this season, and unless we need to lose Neale to get other stuff done (which I doubt), I don't see why he's worth letting go for a packet of chips.

If he requests a trade back to WA and has a team willing to take him a deal will get done. Would have thought he's built up more than enough goodwill in Brisbane for them to let him go for peanuts.

 

[CaseySibosadoHOF]

Freo would have played in a prelim or two in the last few years had they traded for him a few years ago (and still be looking well stocked for continued success now). Good example of the pitfalls of over valuing youth/draft picks over quality players/leaders, even the older ones (he wasnt even that old from memory - 29?).

There is a good touch of irony that Brisbane got to play in GF's massively because of Neale, while Freo fans got excited over draft picks and the hope of future success some time in the future (3 years on and they are still waiting).

Hopefully Neale stays and WCE find someone else to be that Luke Hodge type of person, but it'd be a smart investment by them imo if they could pry him out of Brisbane. Not sure Brisbane would let our best midfielder go while contending for nothing but (even at 33). At a guess a future 2nd rd pick... who really knows but.

I don't think any of the reporting indicated we didn't want to trade for him - Neale wouldn't have been seriously exploring options if Freo's actual position was "we love picks more than you". Especially with Bell at the time, you have to take anything he said in the media with a pinch of salt.

If Freo now are baulking at getting him for pick/salary reasons and giving West Coast a free run at him (as they've had for Starcevich and Ah Chee in terms of WA clubs)...that'd be brave. I don't care about injuries, skill overlap, age, Lachie Neale walks into any footy team and makes them better. To be turning down guaranteed improvement you gotta have something better in the gun to use those resources on. Many a "contender" have seen their window shut coz they weren't willing to die trying.

 

[Altum Volantes]

Haha if Lachie Neale

9

Lachie Neale

Age

32

Ht

177cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

27.0

5star

K

11.5

4star

HB

15.5

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

3.7

5star

CL

5.9

5star

D

28.3

5star

K

13.9

5star

HB

14.4

5star

M

4.6

4star

T

4.0

5star

CL

5.9

5star

D

12.0

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

7.4

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

1.0

3star

CL

0.4

3star

puts his hand up to come back to WA, Freo would be mental not seriously look at that. He is still too good a player.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Haha if Lachie Neale puts his hand up to come back to WA, Freo would be mental not seriously look at that. He is still too good a player.

Neale is a champion, but do Freo seriously need another one paced, small inside mid? You could argue it's their greatest weakness already.

In a game that's quickly moving to how you play in transition, Brayshaw and Serong is about as much as you can carry in that regard on the spread. It's where a guy like Young becomes so crucial to them as a POD.

Darcy, Neale, Serong, and Brayshaw would be the stuff of nightmares up against Anderson and Rowell, or Holmes and Smith post contest, and that's where the game is going.

They're all very good players individually, but it doesn't fit as a system together.