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Neale is going through a difficult stint in his personal life with wife Jules no longer following him on social media and recently posting about being \u201cbetrayed\u201d. <\/p>\n
The 32-year-old on Friday confirmed he and Jules \u201chave now separated\u201d, fronting up to Brisbane media with a prepared statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cI understand the interest in my personal life, but these are personal matters, and I won\u2019t be answering any questions on that topic today,\u201d he began. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can confirm, though, that with regret, Jules and I have now separated. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I won\u2019t go into specifics, I can say that I have let my family down, and I apologise for my actions, which have hurt those closest to me \u2014 and for that, I am deeply sorry. <\/p>\n
\u201cI accept that this is a consequence of my actions, and I need to focus on rebuilding that trust with Jules as the future wellbeing of our children remains our number one priority. <\/p>\n
Lachie Neale addressed Brisbane media on Friday after announcing he\u2019d stepped down as Lions co-captain amid his marriage crisis.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m extremely disappointed in myself, and I have put plans in place and measures in place to do the work on myself so that I can be the best version of myself moving forward. <\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the personal matters that I am currently working through, I have made the decision to stand down as co-captain and from the leadership group, effective immediately. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving been a leader and captain of the Lions has been an honour, but it\u2019s time for the club to move forward with a fresh start. <\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke through this with the club over the last week or two with Danny (Daly) and with \u2018Fages\u2019 (Chris Fagan), and it was a pretty easy decision for me, and time to move on and let someone else or Harris do the job by himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lachie Neale steps down as co-captain | 00:44<\/p>\n
Asked if it was completely his decision or if there\u2019d been stronger input from higher-ups, Neale said: \u201cNo, it was 100 per cent my decision. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019ve probably thought about it (the captaincy) the last 12 months. I\u2019m 32, about to be 33, and we\u2019ve got a great crop of young leaders coming through. <\/p>\n
\u201cI actually first brought it up with Fages probably 12 months ago now, so, yeah, my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Probed on his teammates\u2019 reaction to his decision, Neale said they hadn\u2019t known for long at all. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, they probably only found out about an hour ago, so I\u2019m not sure yet,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The 294-gamer is set to come out of contract and become a free agent at the end of next season, with his current personal situation \u2014 and exit from the leadership group \u2014 opening the door to some doubt over his future in the sunshine state. <\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t really considered that (a call on his future) yet,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think my decision was always going to be put on hold with my contract regardless. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we\u2019ll work that out over the next six months basically, so we\u2019ve got a bit of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lachie Neale played a heroic role in Brisbane\u2019s second-straight premiership triumph but has endured turbulence in his personal life. (Photo by Albert Perez\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Neale\u2019s call comes just three months after the superstar midfielder returned from a calf injury to help lead the Lions to their second-straight premiership in the sub role. <\/p>\n
It currently leaves star key defender Harris Andrews as the club\u2019s sole captain, with Brisbane set to choose between electing a replacement co-captain or leaving Andrews to steer the ship at Springfield ahead of the new season. <\/p>\n
Star midfielders Hugh McCluggage and Josh Dunkley were the club\u2019s two vice-captains last season. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Brisbane Lions confirm Lachie Neale has made the decision to stand down as Co-Captain, effective as of today,\u201d a club statement read earlier on Friday. <\/p>\n
\u201cNeale has shared the role alongside Harris Andrews for the past three seasons \u2013 guiding the Club to three Grand Finals and back-to-back premierships.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 32-year-old determined this was the best move for him and the Club following a challenging personal period.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neale won the Brownlow Medal in 2020 and 2023 and finished top-three in 2019 and 2022. The uncompromising ball-winner is also a four-time All-Australian. <\/p>\n
Lions players and staff remain away from the football club until next week as they continue on their Christmas break. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lachie Neale has broken his silence after relinquishing his Brisbane co-captaincy, stating he\u2019s \u201cdeeply sorry\u201d for his off-field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3486,36846,63,689,651,3237,5340,1119,1127,13659,2105,40742,43,12138,12098,43039,25875,110789,12937,44,677,207282,167037,207284,701,207283,69398,5338,41,39,42,40,25581],"class_list":["post-386256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-albert-perez","tag-andrew-mcgrath","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-calf-injury","tag-football-club","tag-fox-footy","tag-geelong-cats","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-harris-andrews","tag-headlines","tag-hugh-mccluggage","tag-josh-dunkley","tag-jules","tag-lachie-neale","tag-lions-players","tag-mitch-cleary","tag-news","tag-oceania","tag-personal-drama","tag-personal-life","tag-premiership-captain-set","tag-queensland","tag-star-key-defender","tag-superstar-midfielder","tag-the-gabba","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-zach-merrett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386256","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=386256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}