Lachie Neale has revealed that Blues players were telling the Lions “you’re doing a Carlton” on Friday night in a comment that’s been largely misconstrued by AFL fans on social media. Brisbane almost let a 49-point lead slip against Carlton to win by just 11.
The shoe was on the other foot on Friday night, as it’s usually Carlton who are blowing big leads. This time around it was the Blues threatening to make a big comeback, rather than being on the receiving end.
Lachie Neale’s comment lit up social media. Image: Channel 7
And speaking in a post-game interview, Lions star Neale revealed that Blues players were actually using their own misfortune to try and unsettle Brisbane. Neale said Blues players told the Lions “you’re doing a Carlton” in reference to the way they’ve been known to collapse late in games.
“We just had to get back to closing their space a bit,” Neale said after the Blues kicked six-straight goals. “We weren’t doing that well enough in the third quarter and allowing them to find an easy mark.
“Got told by a couple of the [Blues] boys we were ‘doing a Carlton’. They were trying to get in our heads a little bit but that’s part of the game. Glad that we held on, it was pretty close but we’ll take it.”
Michael Voss and Carlton players after their loss to Brisbane.
(via Getty Images)
Neale’s revelation lit up social media, but many seemed to misinterpret what he said. Many took it as Neale having a dig at Carlton and didn’t realise it was the Blues players sledging the Lions, rather than the other way around.
Lions fans were quick to defend Neale after he copped some criticism when the video was posted by the AFL. One person wrote: “Watch the video before you start spouting off.” Another wrote: “To be fair I think he meant Carlton players were saying that to him.” While a third added: “People being offended again without actually understanding the full story.”
Carlton coach positive despite another AFL loss
The Lions did enough to hang on for a 14.16 (100) to 13.11 (89) victory and consign the 1-8 Blues to a seventh-straight loss. Carlton had let half-time leads slip in six of eight games this season, but this time they trailed by 38 at the main break.
“We’ve put ourselves in positions in most games to win, but I’m sort of also sick of saying that,” Michael Voss said. “It shows you that we have the capacity in there to be able to finish off games really strongly. There’s a model in there that definitely works and those sorts of results do say so, but it also says that we’re not doing it for long enough.”