Source : ABC NEWS
The Brisbane Lions will challenge a one-match ban handed to Lachie Neale, which would rule the two-time premiership captain out of the AFL grand final.
Neale was offered the suspension after being charged with striking during the Lions’ controversial nine-point win over Hawthorn in Saturday night’s preliminary final at the MCG.
Meanwhile, Hawks pair James Sicliy and Tom Barrass have been fined $10,000 and $5,000 respectively for abusing umpire Hayden Meyer following the frenetic finish to the match.
Neale’s off-the-ball incident involved a gut punch to the Hawks’ Jack Ginnivan in the first quarter.
Vision showed Ginnivan wrestling with Lions forward Eric Hipwood, before Neale jogs over and hits the Hawks player with a left-handed punch to the stomach.
It was graded intentional conduct, medium impact and body contact.
Within minutes of the AFL releasing the match review findings on Sunday, the Lions confirmed they will challenge the ban.
Neale will front the tribunal but, if unsuccessful, will miss Saturday’s grand final against Fremantle at the MCG.
New match review guidelines state intentional strikes to the stomach are automatically graded as medium impact rather than low, resulting in one-match bans.
Lachie Neale has won two flags with the Lions. (Getty Images/AFL Photos: Robert Cianflone)
Neale may attempt to lean on the “exemplary record” clause to clear himself for the grand final.
He has never been suspended in his 320-match career and could use the same clause that helped Scott Pendlebury escape suspension for his bump on Adelaide’s Josh Worrell this season.
Under AFL regulations, “a player with an exemplary record may argue that their good record constitutes exceptional and compelling circumstances”.
Players can no longer use the so-called “good bloke” defence that helped Brisbane’s Charlie Cameron overturn a ban in 2024.
Neale’s other option is to attempt to have the impact grading reduced, though that route would be unlikely to be successful.
A suspension would also mean Neale may have played his final match for the Lions.
The 33-year-old, who has twice won the Brownlow Medal, is expected to make an off-season move to Collingwood as a free agent.
Neale and Harris Andrews were co-captains when the Lions won the 2024 and 2025 premierships.
Should the Lions defeat the Dockers, they will match the feat of the club’s 2001-03 squad, which won three straight flags.
James Sicily was fined $10,000 by the AFL. (Getty Images: Quinn Rooney)
Sicily and Barrass were handed their massive fines for misconduct after their heated conversation with Meyer immediately after the final siren.
It followed a controversial finish, in which a holding-the-ball free kick paid against Hawthorn’s Jarman Impey gifted Brisbane’s Hugh McCluggage the match-clinching goal in the dying stages.
Sicily and Barrass were not offered an early plea.
The AFL determined the fixed financial sanction for abusive language towards an umpire was inadequate, and so charged Sicily and Barrass under the “other misconduct” provision.
Hawks midfielder Jai Newcombe was cleared over his first-quarter contact with Neale in a collision that involved opponents pushing the two players into each other.
ABC/AAP
