Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Star Brisbane midfielder Lachie Neale has been cleared to play in the AFL grand final after overturning his one-game suspension at the appeals board.
The dual Brownlow Medal winner will feature in the premiership decider against Fremantle – his former club – at the MCG on Saturday after having a striking charge on Hawthorn’s Jack Ginnivan downgraded on Thursday.
Neale was instead fined $10,000.
“Looking forward to playing in the grand final now,” Neale told reporters at the Pullman Hotel in Melbourne after the verdict on Thursday night.
“I just want to thank the club, (Lions football boss) Danny (Daly), everyone involved in the process of helping me play this weekend – and the AFL appeals board for their decision as well.
“I wouldn’t say a bigger point to prove (after the dramatic week).
“I just want to play my part and win on Saturday.
“Difficult challenge against Freo, but hopefully we can do it.”
Neale initially failed in challenging the one-game ban from the match review officer at the tribunal on Tuesday night.
To succeed on appeal, Brisbane had to prove the tribunal finding was either an error of law, an unreasonable decision, a manifestly excessive classification, or a manifestly excessive sanction.
The Lions were able to sway the appeals board that the tribunal had made an error of law in not considering the exceptional and compelling circumstances of Neale not having previously been suspended in 320 AFL games.
“We find that the tribunal did err in having regard to whether the conduct was intentional,” appeals chair Richard Loveridge explained in his reasoning.
“The relevant inquiry was whether, despite the charge having been established, there was exceptional and compelling circumstances.
“In this case, that was Neale’s record.
“We find that Neale’s record is exemplary, and that he should be afforded the benefit of the provision.”
Neale avoids becoming the first player to miss an AFL grand final following a preliminary-final suspension since Collingwood’s Anthony Rocca in 2003.
Brisbane legal representative Adrian Anderson tried various different arguments to clear Neale.
One included suggesting the ban should be served in round one next year, instead of in the grand final, due to the added importance of the match.
It was a bold strategy given Neale is almost certain to leave Brisbane and join Collingwood during the off-season.
Anderson leaned heavily on Neale’s prior record of not being suspended, referring to the four-time All-Australian as “pretty close to a unicorn”.
Introduced this year, the “exceptional and compelling circumstances” clause had been deployed once: to downgrade a one-game ban to Collingwood legend and AFL games record-holder Scott Pendlebury, to a fine.
New vision of Neale’s strike on Ginnivan became available on Thursday, but was not allowed to be used because it was not shown at Tuesday’s tribunal hearing.
The footage would have shown a clearer picture of the incident and likely not helped Neale’s case.
Sydney’s Barry Hall (2005) and Richmond’s Trent Cotchin (2017) famously escaped bans for incidents in their respective preliminary finals to play in eventual premiership wins.
The Lions named Neale in their team on Thursday, shortly before the decision was handed down, and didn’t need to change the 23.
Defender Noah Answerth, who was injured in Brisbane’s qualifying final loss, would have likely returned had Neale been suspended.
With rain expected for Saturday’s grand final, Neale will figure prominently as one of the Lions’ best wet-weather players.
Co-captain of Brisbane’s past two premierships, Neale can end his Lions career with a three-peat to match the club’s outstanding team of 2001-03.
