Senior Lachie Neale (2018-) (Co-Captain)

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Mates reveal Neale’s appeal

Lachie Neale’s pressing goal on Saturday is to help the Lions reach their first grand final since 2004 by defeating Geelong at the Gabba but by Sunday night he could join the rarest of ranks in the AFL.

The Brisbane midfielder is a dominant favourite to win the Brownlow Medal in an awards ceremony brought forward a day this year from its usual Monday timeslot.

The 27-year-old has already claimed the AFL Players Association MVP and the AFL Coaches Association Award for the best footballer in what has been a superb 2020.

Neale, who finished equal-third in last year’s Brownlow Medal behind dual-winner Nat Fyfe, is listed as a $1.25 favourite with the TAB to claim the league’s highest individual honour.

Melbourne’s Christian Petracca ($7) and Port Adelaide veteran Travis Boak ($8) are the only other contenders listed in single figures, with Saint Jack Steele ($13) considered the next hope.

Those who have played alongside Neale this year are scarcely surprised the Lion has top billing for the Brownlow Medal, which will see invited players gather in groups at six destinations around the country.

The red carpet has been abandoned given there is no stand-alone function this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Jarrod Berry said the beauty of training alongside Neale was having the opportunity to watch a player at the peak of his powers strive to improve further.

“It is pretty special, especially being right alongside him in the midfield,” Berry told The Weekend Australian.

“Consistently, day in, day out, getting tagged, he has been a tremendous force and to learn off a guy like that, it is pretty special. His drive to get better and improve throughout the whole season has been second to none.”

Gun forward Charlie Cameron said the ability of Neale to gather the ball so cleanly and accelerate from contested situations had been pivotal in his elevation up the AFL ranks.

“I think he has shown a lot of class since he has been here. He has grown and grown and grown every week,” Cameron said.
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AFL champion Gavin Wanganeen says Brisbane Lion Lachie Neale would be a worthy Brownlow Medal winner

Long before he dreamt of being a Brisbane Lions premiership winner, Lachie Neale dreamt of being Gavin Wanganeen.

Neale is a white-hot $1.25 favourite to win the Brownlow on Sunday after a season of stellar consistency with the Lions and his boyhood hero Wanganeen says it would warm his heart if “the little warrior’’ joined him as a winner of the code’s most cherished individual award.

The Brownlow and a Brisbane Lions premiership would be an earth-quaking, dream double for Neale – for a journey which started on a farm in the tiny South Australian town of Kybybolite (population 107), where he cheered for Port Adelaide and their debonair star Wanganeen.

“I dreamt about being Gavin, but his skills are much silkier than mine,’’ Neale said.

Wanganeen is flattered.

“Well, I am not sure about that,’’ he said from Adelaide yesterday.

“So he said I inspired him? Wow. I feel really proud. It warms my heart. He is a great little warrior.

“I’ve been watching him since he was at Fremantle and always thought he was a beautiful fast, running attacking midfielder.

“I always sensed he would get even better. He’s a ball magnet.

“You could tell he had that work rate and hunger. You don’t get that amount of ball if you are not hungry.

“I think opponents are surprised how strong he is.

“He would be a very worthy Brownlow Medal winner. If he wins it I think they probably got it right.

“He has had one of those out of the box seasons.

“His possessions really count. They are not cheap possessions.’’

Test cricketer Kerry O’Keeffe got laughs across the panel on Fox Sport’s Back Page recently when he said most of the recent Brownlow Medallists had come from towns without McDonald’s, but behind the dry quip there was a telling tale.

There is a pattern in country-raised recent winners like Nat Fyfe, Dustin Martin and Matt Priddis spending their early years in wide open spaces rather than wide open cyber space.

“They sort of came in a fraction before the social media frenzy and technology which would take their minds away from playing sport,’’ Wanganeen said.

Like many country-raised children, Neale played endless games of football, cricket, basketball and tennis so that by the time he reached senior level his moves were as instinctive as a touch typist’s.

He felt basketball, in particular, gave him a spatial awareness that he benefits from in football.

Neale’s hand skills are so subtle he has a trick where he can make a clapping sound with one hand and part of his pre-match routine is to juggle three tennis balls.

But no footballer gets it all.

When asked if there was a skill he could steal from a rival, he does not think long before saying: “Nat Fyfe’s aerial skills or Dustin Martin’s bump”.

An old-fashioned football nuffy, too much AFL is never enough for him.

When he is not playing he is normally glued to the match of the day and he is something of an information junkie in exchanges with coach Chris Fagan because he hopes to coach when his playing days are over.

“I like that side of the game and hope to be involved post footy and Fages has been a good mentor for me in that space.’’

“He is often calling up sharing with me things he is thinking about.’’

It was Neale’s fascination with watching other games that made him welcome to an approach to making a surprise and unexpected switch from Fremantle to the Lions.

“I watched a fair bit of their games and while they were not winning but they were only losing by two or three goals and you could see they were on the verge of breaking through. I was really impressed with the young core of guys coming through.

“I knew they would be a good side fairly quickly.’’

And so they were.
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Town cheering on Lachie

The whole region will be cheering on one of our own on Sunday, as the Brownlow Medal counts roll in.

Former Kybybolite player and current Brisbane Lions midfielder Lachie Neale is tipped to take home AFL's most prestigious award after a stand-out season.

Lachie has had an excellent season with the Brisbane Lions, winning the AFL Coaches Association champion player award.

He moved to Brisbane in 2019 and finished third in the Brownlow Medal count in his maiden season.

The town is showing it's support for Lachie, with a lifesize poster hanging in the window of Sportspower Naracoorte, and a signed guernsey and scarf with proudly displayed at Maddie's Cafe.

Lachie's very proud mum Amanda Taylor said she was amazed by the support the town has shown for Lachie.

"It's been overwhelming, I've had people coming up to me, even people I don't know that well saying 'please pass on our best wishes to Lachie', it's been great."

"I don't think Brisbane has ever had this many supporters in the south-east."

Ms Taylor said it was "surreal" to see Lachie where he is today after many years of driving him to weekend football in Kyby.

"Every child growing up says they want to play football, but for him, you'd ask 'what else do you want to do, he'd say 'nothing, I just want to play football.', she said

"He only ever had that one goal, and he has worked very hard and achieved it.

"It is awesome and I hope he wins it - although I was hoping that he'd win it last year, or the year before, or the year before that - but he's had a good season, and I think he deserves it.

"I don't think there would be too many people gambling on him because I don't think it'd pay very much!"

"I'm a bit biased, I think he should win it every year, but it's been such a weird year, and he's had to adapt to the changes, but I think he's played really well.

"I think it's his year."

Before the medal count, the Lions will face Geelong in a tough preliminary final on Saturday, and of course, Mum will be cheering Lachie on from the stands.

She said she was feeling the pressure more than him.

"He is pretty calm - I've averaged about 4 hours a sleep a night this week, but I think he is level-headed and relaxed," she said.

"He has worked hard on his attitude and mindset as well as the physical side of it, he gets himself into a good headspace."

President of the Kybybolite Football Club Jamie Tidy said the club would be cheering him on together.

"We are excited for Lachie and we wish him all the best," he said.

"He is a great kid, he's worked very hard and he deserves everything that comes his way.

"We've had amazing senior coaches for a very long time and a prolonged period of success. That only comes when you have good people who are good coaches who can teach good young kids who turn into good young men, and Lachie is certainly one of them."

The team will be gathering at the club on Sunday to watch the count together, and there will be a live cross from Channel 7 during the night.
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Lion king: Lachie Neale wins 2020 Brownlow Medal

BRISBANE star Lachie Neale has celebrated an outstanding individual season, winning his first ever Brownlow Medal in utterly dominant fashion on Sunday night.

The brilliant and prolific Lions midfielder blitzed the field to be crowned the 2020 season's fairest and best player, cruising to the game's highest individual accolade ahead of Port Adelaide's Travis Boak, Melbourne's Christian Petracca and St Kilda's Jack Steele.

In a record-breaking count, Neale polled 31 votes from 17 games to finish comfortably clear of Boak (21 votes) in second and Petracca and Steele (20 votes each) in joint-third.

The 10-vote margin was the equal-biggest final lead in Brownlow Medal history since the 3-2-1 format was introduced, while his 1.82 votes-per-game was the most in history.

It meant that Neale, who crossed from Fremantle to Brisbane in 2018, added the Brownlow Medal to a growing list of individual honours claimed throughout his ever-improving career.

Having already been named the AFL Players' Association MVP and the AFL Coaches' Association Player of the Year this season, as well as adding a second All-Australian blazer to his collection, Neale becomes just the fourth Brisbane player to win the Brownlow Medal.

In doing so, he follows in the footsteps of club greats like Michael Voss (1996), Jason Akermanis (2001) and Simon Black (2002) in achieving the remarkable feat.

It caps a stellar season for Neale in Brisbane's young and exciting midfield, where he averaged 27.5 disposals, 12.5 contested possessions and 5.3 clearances per game, as well as kicking 11 goals, to help lead the Lions to their first finals victory in more than a decade.

"It's unbelievable," Neale said upon being crowned the Brownlow Medal winner.

"I feel really humbled to be in this position and to be among some of those names, it's still pretty crazy to me. As has been mentioned, the boy from Kybybolite (South Australia) … never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd be standing here today."

Neale remarkably polled 10 best-on-ground performances from his 17 games throughout the season, claiming a virtually unassailable lead as early as round five in the count.

That followed four consecutive three-vote performances starting from round two, with Boak, Petracca and Steele playing catch-up from that point. Patrick Dangerfield, Dustin Martin, Jack Macrae and Luke Parker all tied for fifth, polling 15 votes each on the night.

Cam Guthrie and Clayton Oliver rounded out the Brownlow's top 10.

But it was Neale's night. An overwhelming favourite for the award, a three-vote performance against Gold Coast in round 16 confirmed he would take home 'Charlie', with one final best-on-ground display against Carlton in round 18 capping a wonderful evening.

"It's a little bit (of a relief)," Neale said.

"It's been spoken about quite a bit. I suppose there is a sense of relief that it's over now.

"There were some great players throughout the year, Travis Boak, Christian Petracca, Jack Steele, even Dustin Martin and Patrick Dangerfield had great years as well. There were always going to be challenges, but I'm very proud to have won it this year."

Incredibly, given his red-hot start to the season, Neale's closest rival in the early stages of the count ultimately proved to be first-year Gold Coast midfielder Matt Rowell.

Last year's No.1 pick polled three consecutive three-vote games to sit on nine votes after round four, before hurting his shoulder in round five and missing the rest of the season.

It enabled Neale to ease clear of the pack, recording best-on-ground displays against Fremantle, West Coast, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Melbourne, Essendon, the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne, Gold Coast and Carlton to stamp his name in the history books.

It helped both Neale and the Lions recover from a painful preliminary final defeat to Geelong on Saturday night, with the 27-year-old thanking coach Chris Fagan for his season.

"He's just such a great man on and off the field," Neale said.

"You can talk to him about anything. He calls me once or twice per week to talk about footy and life. He's always asking me about my family and friends and my interests outside footy.

"On the field, he's a real competitor. You can see it on matchday on the bench. He rides the waves with us, so I'm so thankful to have him as a coach. I've learnt so much from him in these two years, and I know I'll continue to learn so much more. He's such a great man."

BROWNLOW MEDAL TOP 10
31 Lachie Neale (Brisbane)
21 Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)
20 Christian Petracca (Melbourne)
20 Jack Steele (St Kilda)
15 Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong)
15 Jack Macrae (Western Bulldogs)
15 Dustin Martin (Richmond)
15 Luke Parker (Sydney)
14 Cam Guthrie (Geelong)
14 Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)
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Neale: Not done improving

Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale says he's not done improving and Saturday night's preliminary final loss to Geelong will only drive him to find another gear.

Neale fronted the media at Brisbane's South Bank beach on Monday afternoon off two-and-a-half hours sleep following his record-breaking win on Sunday night.

With his parents and their respective partners looking on, the Lions midfield ace had a warning for the rest of the competition.

"It's been a long road and I've had to work extremely hard and I'm not done yet either."

Neale said although he would not dwell on losing to the Cats so comprehensively, he would use the result as fuel to improve.

"It'll drive me," he said.

"I won't feel sorry for myself, we didn't deserve to win that game the way we played, we weren't good enough.

"I'll think about it for a bit.

"It'll drive me to hopefully win a prelim next year and get into the Big Dance.

"We've got a group that are hungry for that, they're talented enough, we've just got to do the hard work again to try and put ourselves in that position."

After finishing third in the 2019 Brownlow, Neale made a huge leap this season, most noticeably with his play forward of the centre circle.

He kicked 14 goals for the season and despite less playing time, averaged an extra 54 metres gained each match.

The 27-year-old said he would use the next few weeks to figure out where he could get better.

"I usually go through a bit of a process after each season to work that out over a period of time," he said.

"I'll sit down with Fages and midfield coach Dale Tapping and map out of my off-season, my pre-season and maybe pick up two or three things that I can add to my game and try and improve on."
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Lachie Neale won the Brownlow but would happily swap it for a premiership medallion

Lachie Neale would gladly swap his Brownlow Medal for a premiership.

But the Lions star will have to wait at least another year for his AFL flag after Brisbane’s weekend preliminary final loss to Geelong at the Gabba.

“I’d rather be celebrating 22 medals than one,” Neale said on Monday less than 24 hours after being named the 2020 Brownlow Medal.

“I have an enormous amount of respect for this medal, don’t get me wrong, but if I could do both that would be an ideal world.

“I want to win a premiership. They’re very hard to get to, grand finals, and even harder to win.

“I want a premiership, and I want it bad.”

Neale said he would use the Lions’ 40-point loss to Geelong as motivation to go further next season.

“I won’t dwell on it and feel sorry for myself. We didn’t deserve to win that game the way we played.

“We weren’t good enough but it’ll certainly drive me ... to hopefully win a prelim next year and get to the big dance.

“That’s what we play for. I feel like we’ve got the group at the moment that are hungry for that.

“They’re talented enough. We’ve just got to do that hard work to try to put ourselves in that position.”

Neale, who polled 31 votes from 17 matches to win the game’s highest individual honour, said the highlight of his season was Brisbane’s 15-point qualifying final win over Richmond at the Gabba.

“Winning a home final, it hasn’t been done in a while at Brisbane,” he said.

“It was disappointing that we couldn’t get it done on Saturday night (against Geelong) but we can take some real lessons and learnings from that game, and hopefully we can improve on that and go a couple further next year.”

As for improvement in his own game, Neale said wanted to better his goalkicking accuracy next year.

“I missed a lot of shots this year,” said the 27-year-old midfielder, who kicked 14 goals and 13 behinds this season.

“I usually go through a bit of a process after each season to work that (where he needs to improve) over a period of time, rather than making a rash statement straight away/

“I’ll sit down with ‘Fages’ (Lions coach Chris Fagan) and Dale Tapping, our midfield coach, and map out my off season and pre season and maybe pick up two or three thing that I can add to my game and try to improve on.
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Merrett-Murray Medal 2020

Lachie Neale has capped one of the most remarkable seasons in football history by claiming back-to-back Merrett-Murray Medals as the Brisbane Lions’ Club Champion.

It has been a Spring carnival like no other for the champion midfielder who collected an AFL style quaddie with his landslide triumph in the Brownlow medal on Sunday night completing the clean sweep of football’s major individual awards.

He had previously won the Leigh Matthews Trophy as the AFL Players Association’s MVP and the AFL Coaches Association Champion Player Award.

And just to add another bit of silverware to the haul his finals performances were recognised when he tied with brilliant young midfielder Hugh McCluggage as the Best Finals Player of 2020.

In front of 400 guests at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Neale received the award from Brisbane Bears legend Roger Merrett, Lions chairman Andrew Wellington and Senior Coach Chris Fagan.

The medal’s other namesake, Fitzroy Team of the Century Captain Kevin Murray, was unable to attend due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Although Neale claimed the Brownlow medal by an equal record margin, the voting in the Club Championship was much closer – a reflection of the superb team performance by the Lions in advancing to their first Preliminary Final in 16 years.

The 27-year-old averaged 27.5 disposals in the shortened game and was the league’s highest possession winner as he tallied 305 votes from 19 games.
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The 2020 Finals Player Award

Lachie Neale and Hugh McCluggage presented by Jed Adcock
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2020 Player Review: Lachie Neale

It was a season like no other for Lachie Neale.

By the time he arrived home from the 2020 Club Championship dinner with the Merrett-Murray medal draped around his neck he had claimed every best and fairest award available in the competition.

His second season as a Lion must surely rank as one of the most dominant of the modern era.

With shortened game and increasing opposition attention the 27-year-old still managed to average 27.5 disposals as the league’s highest possession winner.

He received maximum votes in Club Championship voting for his 32 possession two goal game against West Coast in round three and also produced dominant displays against Essendon where he gathered 33 possessions and kicked two goals and with 36 possessions and one goal against the Bulldogs.

The Marcus Ashcroft medal for best on ground in the Q Clash was added to his collection in round 16.

He won the Brownlow Medal by an equal record margin, was the AFL Players Association’s Leigh Matthews Trophy winner as their MVP and the AFL Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year.

Only three players have claimed all three major individual awards in the same season - Dustin Martin (2017), Patrick Dangerfield (2016) and Gary Ablett Jnr (2009).

He became the merged club’s 10th Brownlow medallist and the fourth alongside Michael Voss (1996), Jason Akermanis (2001) and Simon Black (2002) of the Brisbane era.

Haydn Bunton (1931,32,35), Wilfred Smallhorn (1933), Dinny Ryan (1936), Allan Ruthven (1950), Kevin Murray (1969) and Bernie Quinlan (1981) were Brownlow medallists for Fitzroy.

The midfield maestro also produced a mighty finals campaign to share the honours with teammate Hugh McCluggage as the Lions’ Best Finals Player for 2020.
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Dylan12 said:


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How about the club asks reporters to point the mike to themselves when asking a question, as it is damn annoying trying to work out what he is answering.
 
AFL star Lachie Neale expecting first child after ‘long, trying’ wait

Brisbane Lions midfielder Lachie Neale has revealed he is expecting his first child with wife Julie.
The couple broke the news on social media on Tuesday, uploading an image to Instagram of Lachie kissing his wife’s stomach.

“Can’t wait to meet you baby girl,” Lachie captioned the picture.
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‘I’m not sure if I’m allowed to really say too much’: Neale reveals concerning back scan

Reigning Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale has revealed a scan on his back during the week returned “not a great result” but will not use it as an excuse for any drop in form.

Speaking after his Brisbane Lions opened their 2021 account with a one-point win over Collingwood at Marvel Stadium courtesy of a goal after the siren from Zac Bailey, Neale said he was “battling a fair bit” with his body early in the season.

The midfielder was solid if not quite at his best against the Pies, finishing with 21 disposals and a long-range goal.

Asked about the matter on Thursday, the club’s official position was that Neale did not have a fracture in his back. Neale would not confirm the specifics of his injury, but nor did he suggest that it wasn’t significant.

“To be honest, I’m battling a fair bit. But once I put my hand up to play, I’m the same as everyone. I’ve got to go out there and perform. I thought the first half I was OK. I was labouring a little bit late and I am pretty sore,” Neale told The Age.

“I’ve got a bit going on but I’m sure there’s other guys in the competition that are a bit sore as well. It’s something that I’ll deal with and hopefully it doesn’t keep me out of any games.”

Asked to elaborate on the issue, Neale was only prepared to say so much.

“It’s to do with my back. I had a scan and it wasn’t a great result. There’s a little bit in there but that’s something that I’ll deal with. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to really say too much, it wasn’t a great result on the scan,” Neale said.

Lions coach Chris Fagan said after the game that Neale’s performance under duress had been courageous.

“Yeah it was a brave effort by him to play tonight. He could have easily sat it out and been in better nick for next week’s game against the Dogs. He hasn’t got a serious injury but he’s just pretty sore. He got himself up to play and made a good, solid contribution tonight,” Fagan said.

It had been an eventful week for Neale, who announced via social media in recent days that wife Julie was pregnant with the couple’s first child.

Julie is back in Brisbane as the Lions deal with an indefinite period on the road.

“She’s going well. She’s got her parents in Brissy, which is great. She hasn’t been by herself there. It’s great news and I’m excited to become a father and I can’t wait for that next chapter in my life,” Lachie said of Julie.

Lachie had also been at the heart of a storm last week following his run-in with Geelong coach Chris Scott that led to Scott copping a $10,000 suspended fine. Neale was reluctant to reheat the matter.

“I won’t really comment on that. I’m past that. He’s said his piece, I don’t think I really need to say my piece, so I won’t talk about that,” Neale said.

He was relieved that the Lions had managed to snap their winless start to the season and added that the team was coping well with the extended stay in Victoria.

“Just relief for me probably at the moment. It would have been not very ideal to be zero and three.

“It’s been a challenge, I suppose, but we embrace it. I haven’t heard any of our boys sook. We’ve been very well looked after.”
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