{"id":386119,"date":"2026-01-02T04:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T04:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/386119\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T04:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T04:40:12","slug":"favourites-for-lions-2026-captaincy-emerge-as-players-prepare-for-vote-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/386119\/","title":{"rendered":"Favourites for Lions 2026 captaincy emerge as players prepare for vote – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Former Brisbane captain Lachie Neale<\/a> has backed the club’s leadership group that will succeed his three-year spell as skipper, with the Lions to vote on who captains the club in 2026.<\/p>\n

Co-captain alongside Neale since the 2023 season, defender Harris Andrews<\/a> is expected to either be the sole captain of the club or be joined by another teammate in Neale’s place.<\/p>\n

Following a “challenging personal period” for Neale that has since seen him and his wife Jules separate, Neale opted to step down from his leadership role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neale has revealed he had been contemplating handing over the captaincy close to 12 months ago, having held talks with coach Chris Fagan<\/a> ahead of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Further discussions with Fagan and Lions football boss Danny Daly this off-season helped lead Neale to the decision to step aside after three years as skipper.<\/p>\n

A dual premiership captain alongside Andrews, Neale has backed the All-Australian backman to lead the team as the sole captain, should that be the outcome of a club vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brisbane could continue with co-captains, as vice-captains Hugh McCluggage<\/a> and Josh Dunkley<\/a> firm as favourites to fill a void, should one be up for grabs.<\/p>\n

\"FormerMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 28: Leigh Matthews watches on as Chris Fagan, Senior Coach of the Lions, Lachie Neale, Dayne Zorko and Harris Andrews of the Lions hoist the premiership cup during the AFL Grand Final match between Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions at Melbourne Cricket Ground, on September 28, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Morgan Hancock\/AFL Photos)<\/p>\n

McCluggage has been a vice-captain of the club since Neale and Andrews succeeded Dayne Zorko<\/a>, while Dunkley has been in the role the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Friday, Neale said the club has “a number of guys that could step up”.<\/p>\n

“I spoke through this with the club over the last week or two with Danny and ‘Fages’. It was a pretty easy decision for me, and time to move on and let someone else (step up) or Harris do the job by himself,” Neale said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’m sure he could do it on his own, but we have a number of guys that could step up.<\/p>\n

“Josh Dunkley<\/a> and Hugh McCluggage<\/a> have been very good vice-captains the last few years.<\/p>\n

“I think we’ll do a vote, as usual, and see what comes from those results.”<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Neale’s immediate departure from the leadership group won’t be the only change in the Queensland capital heading into 2026, with 2025 leaders Brandon Starcevich<\/a> (West Coast) and Oscar McInerney<\/a> (retired) since leaving the club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The likes of young stars Will Ashcroft<\/a>, Zac Bailey<\/a> and Jaspa Fletcher<\/a> could be in the mix to join Jarrod Berry<\/a>, Charlie Cameron<\/a> and Cameron Rayner<\/a> as members of the club’s leadership group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Brisbane captain Lachie Neale has backed the club’s leadership group that will succeed his three-year spell as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-386119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386119","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=386119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}