Fellow panellist and Seven analyst Kane Cornes called it the biggest grand final selection risk he thinks he\u2019s ever seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey ruled him out for the year, and I just gave him no chance. I\u2019m not sure what has changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Former teammate Luke Hodge said the Lions had to pick Neale due to the injuries in their squad, but expects he will start on the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you go with one of these younger guys or with the two-time Brownlow Medallist, knowing the occasion won\u2019t overawe him?,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a massive risk, with one game in 56 days, it\u2019s playing 120 minutes of two-way defence and offensive football, so I assume he\u2019ll start on the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I were Geelong, I would attack him and push him onto that right calf as often as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lions co-captain trained strongly on Tuesday, running laps before joining the main session and getting through the full hour-long session unimpeded.<\/p>\n
Assuming Neale doesn\u2019t a late setback on Thursday\u2019s main training session in Melbourne, it would mark a remarkable comeback on what was initially assessed as a 4-6 week injury.<\/p>\n
Coach Chris Fagan said he trusted Neale to make the right call, not only for himself but also for the group.<\/p>\n
![\"IPSWICH,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/b7e93e01c132ed1750a5ca2e52ed6d7da1cf8957.jpg\")
IPSWICH, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 23: Lachie Neale kicks the ball during a Brisbane Lions AFL training session at Brighton Homes Arena on September 23, 2025 in Ipswich, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images) Credit: Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cHe trained today and did everything at a much higher speed than everyone else, given they were in recovery,\u201d he told AFL360.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to Lachie and said \u2018mate, you\u2019ve got to train flat-out, there\u2019s no holding back\u2019 but if the medical staff give him the tick-off I\u2019m going to back him in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to get through training on Thursday and he got through a really hard session on the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he knows what\u2019s at stake and he\u2019s not taking this decision lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes as fellow midfielder Jarrod Berry is also racing to be fit after dislocating his shoulder in their preliminary final win over Collingwood.<\/p>\n
![\"IPSWICH,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/594c9a618fa9a0ca6f1f3aac73ff36dc1cd2bfbb.jpg\")
IPSWICH, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 23: Jarrod Berry in action during a Brisbane Lions AFL training session at Brighton Homes Arena on September 23, 2025 in Ipswich, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images) Credit: Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Oscar McInerney, who missed last year\u2019s grand final with a dislocated shoulder, said he was confident the club would make the right calls.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (Neale and Berry) will keep trying to do what they\u2019ve got to do, and we\u2019ll see how they go,\u201d the towering ruckman said.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Bez\u2019 (Berry) is an incredible person, and he\u2019s always got a smile on his face, and he\u2019ll keep ticking all the boxes and working on it.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Lachie) is our captain \u2026 those guys will look after themselves and do a really good job to give them the best opportunity (of playing)<\/p>\n
\u201cAs players, our job is not to look too far ahead and just do what we\u2019ve got to do day to day to get ready.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane will roll the dice with a two-time Brownlow Medallist with the Lions reportedly confirming Lachie Neale will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[638,64,63,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-163773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-sport","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163773","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=163773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}