{"id":141843,"date":"2025-09-14T05:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T05:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/141843\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T05:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T05:11:12","slug":"lions-wont-rule-out-neale-for-afl-grand-final-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/141843\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions won’t rule out Neale for AFL grand final return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane superstar Lachie Neale rates himself a “50 per cent” chance to return from injury in the AFL grand final if the Lions topple Collingwood to qualify.<\/p>\n

Neale’s season appeared over when he limped off the field with a calf issue late in Brisbane’s qualifying-final defeat to Geelong.<\/p>\n

The two-time Brownlow Medal winner missed the Lions’ 53-point semi-final thrashing of local rivals Gold Coast on Saturday night, and will also sit out the preliminary final against Collingwood.<\/p>\n

\"Lachie\u00a0Neale\"<\/p>\n

A calf injury meant Lachie Neale wasn’t able to finish the qualifying final against Geelong. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

But Neale could be in the frame for a surprise comeback the following week if the Lions reach a third straight season decider.<\/p>\n

The reigning premiers are riding high after their win over the Suns and have been further buoyed by Neale’s positive outlook.<\/p>\n

“He’s as mentally tough as they come, so I’m definitely not ruling him out,” Lions defender Ryan Lester told SEN on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“I thought it was all over for him, but I didn’t actually realise he was doing the hyperbaric chamber stuff and saunas and all this recovery stuff that he’s been doing this week away from the club.<\/p>\n

“I actually saw him this morning – I had my son’s fifth birthday party and he was there – he was pretty positive about how he’s tracking.<\/p>\n

“All he’s going to do is give himself a shot, and obviously we’ve got to win this weekend to give him any chance.<\/p>\n

“But he’s certainly a chance, that’s for sure.”<\/p>\n

\"Defender<\/p>\n

Brisbane defender Ryan Lester has given a thumbs-up to Lachie Neale’s recovery process. (James Worsfold\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Neale admitted he held a far more optimistic view about his chances than Brisbane medical staff did.<\/p>\n

“I’m giving myself a 50 per cent chance,” Neale told Fox Footy.<\/p>\n

“But I think the physios and the doctors and the rest of the medical fraternity are giving me about a one per cent chance.<\/p>\n

“I spoke about it this afternoon. I think in 20 years’ time I’d be kicking myself if I didn’t try everything in my power to get up for it.<\/p>\n

“If the dominoes fall my way and that one per cent does come through, then it would be an amazing story.”<\/p>\n

The Lions’ engine room dominated Gold Coast without Neale, as Will Ashcroft, Josh Dunkley and Hugh McCluggage ran riot.<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Brisbane’s record-breaking Josh Dunkley tries to stop Gold Coast midfield maestro Matt Rowell. (Darren England\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Dunkley had a finals-record 18 tackles as well as 20 disposals and four clearances in a performance that led to high praise from Lester.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old defender has seen it all, from the days when the Lions were cellar-dwellers through to their current status as a power club.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had Lachie Neale, Charlie Cameron, Joe Daniher … but I believe Dunks is our best recruit we’ve ever had,” Lester said.<\/p>\n

“You can get a big-name player, but his first priority is defence and contest.<\/p>\n

“That’s not to say that the other boys don’t buy into that, but certainly their weapons are more offensive.<\/p>\n

“For him to do that it becomes infectious within the team.<\/p>\n

“He’s an amazing player and one of the greatest teammates you could possibly ask for.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane superstar Lachie Neale rates himself a “50 per cent” chance to return from injury in the AFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,49418,64,63,55,639,651,25875,4127,19095,64903,19078,85,7709],"class_list":{"0":"post-141843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-afl-grand-final","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-brisbane","15":"tag-lachie-neale","16":"tag-lions","17":"tag-preliminary-final","18":"tag-qualifying-final","19":"tag-ryan-lester","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-the-lions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}