Dual Brisbane premiership legend Lachie Neale’s future with the club beyond 2026 remains unclear after quitting as Lions co-captain amid a tumultuous and public marriage breakdown.<\/p>\n
Neale, who has lifted the last two AFL premiership cups aloft with Harris Andrews, will vacate his leadership role for 2026.<\/p>\n
“I can say that I have let my family down, and I apologise for my actions, which have hurt those closest to me, and for that I am deeply sorry,” a sullen Neale said at Brisbane’s Springfield headquarters on Friday.<\/p>\n
“I accept this is a consequence of my actions, and I need to focus on rebuilding that trust with (wife) Jules, as the future wellbeing of our children remain the number one priority.<\/p>\n
“I’m extremely disappointed in myself and I’ve put plans in place to do the work on myself so that I can be the best version of myself.”<\/p>\n
Lachie Neale holds up the 2025 premiership cup alongside Harris Andrews and Chris Fagan.\u00a0Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Neale has been at the centre of tabloid speculation about his marriage breaking down in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
His wife Jules is in the process of moving back to Western Australia, where she grew up, with their two children.<\/p>\n
During the press conference, Neale — wearing a white t-shirt and no club apparel — declined to elaborate when asked numerous questions about the nature of his marriage ending.<\/p>\n
The move of his family to the other side of Australia could prompt Neale to consider his future in Brisbane beyond this year.<\/p>\n
The 294-game matchwinner is out of contract with the Lions at the end of 2026.<\/p>\n
Raised in South Australia, Neale spent seven years in Perth after being drafted by Fremantle, during which time he met Jules.<\/p>\n
“I haven’t really considered that yet,” Neale said when asked if he might consider a move to WA in 2027.<\/p>\n
Lachie Neale speaks to the media on January 2, 2026.\u00a0Photo by Albert Perez\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
“My decision was always going to be put on hold with my contracts regardless, so we’ll work that out in the next six months.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got a bit of time.”<\/p>\n
Neale, who sought a trade from the Dockers to Brisbane at the end of 2018, is one of the most decorated players in the Lions’ history.<\/p>\n
In his seven seasons with Brisbane, he has claimed two Brownlow medals (2020, 2023), won four Merrett-Murray medals as the Lions’ best-and-fairest, four All-Australians and starred in two grand final wins.<\/p>\n
Neale’s 2025 season appeared all but over after hurting his calf in the Lions’ qualifying final loss against Geelong.<\/p>\n
But the star midfielder made a remarkable recovery to prove his fitness and was picked as sub in the Lions’ grand final rematch against the Cats.<\/p>\n
Subbed into the grand final at the start of the third quarter, Neale’s influence was pivotal in Brisbane’s barnstorming second-half demolition of Geelong.<\/p>\n
Neale had 17 possessions, seven clearances and kicked one classic goal to help inspire the Lions to a 47-point win.<\/p>\n
Already the most successful club of the 21st century, Brisbane have a chance to claim a second premiership three-peat to add to the one led by Leigh Matthews and Michael Voss from 2001-03.<\/p>\n
Even before his marriage fell apart, Neale was in talks to give up the co-captaincy.<\/p>\n
But the public intrigue around his personal life fast-tracked the call.<\/p>\n
Andrews will likely be Brisbane’s sole captain this year, but fellow premiership heroes Josh Dunkley and Hugh McCluggage would be ideal candidates to share the role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dual Brisbane premiership legend Lachie Neale’s future with the club beyond 2026 remains unclear after quitting as Lions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-386202","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\/386202","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=386202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}