{"id":387007,"date":"2026-01-02T14:27:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T14:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/387007\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T14:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T14:27:23","slug":"lachie-neale-brisbane-star-does-not-commit-to-lions-beyond-2026-amid-marriage-breakdown-with-wife-jules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/387007\/","title":{"rendered":"Lachie Neale: Brisbane star does not commit to Lions beyond 2026 amid marriage breakdown with wife Jules"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane Lions star Lachie Neale has broken his silence and apologised for the actions which led to his marriage falling apart, while standing down as the club\u2019s co-captain.<\/p>\n

Neale\u2019s off-field life descended into public turmoil before Christmas amid reports of his marriage with wife Jules breaking down.<\/p>\n

Jules took to social media after reports emerged that the pair were \u201cworking through\u201d their marriage and declared: \u201cI want to make it very clear that I am not \u2018working through\u2019 anything. I have been betrayed in the most unimaginable way. Thankyou for the love and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jules also stopped following Neale and former friend Tess Crosley on social media.<\/p>\n

Neale was directly asked if he cheated on his wife during a press conference on Friday morning and refused to answer the question. But he confirmed that he and Jules were no longer together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can confirm that, with regret, Jules and I have now separated,\u201d Neale said in a press conference.<\/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 has hurt those closest to me. For that I am deeply sorry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI accept this is a consequence for my actions and I need to focus on re-building that trust with Jules, as the future well being of our children remains our number one priority. I am extremely disappointed in myself and I have put plans in place and measures in place to do the work on myself so I can be the best version of myself moving forward.<\/p>\n

\"JulesCamera IconJules Neale and Lachie Neale celebrate the Lion’s premiership win in September. Credit: Lachie Neale\/IG\/IG<\/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

\u201cI am extremely disappointed in my actions and the breakdown of my marriage which I take full responsibility for. It hurts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that I am a role model and I\u2019ve probably let fans, not just of the Brisbane Lions but of the AFL down. I accept that responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neale\u2019s personal life has played out over social media amid Jules re-locating to Perth and posting photos. She also lashed out at Crosley after noticing that she still had photos of Brisbane\u2019s 2025 premiership celebrations on her Instagram page.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake these (pictures) down, you idiot you\u2019re embarrassing yourself,\u2019\u2019 Jules wrote, in a comment that was later deleted.<\/p>\n

Crosley has a son with husband Ben, but he hasn\u2019t been seen in any of the photos she has posted since the drama became public. The most recent references to Ben on Tess\u2019 Instagram account are from a function she attended with him in November.<\/p>\n

Neale commented on those photos at the time by writing \u201cpower couple\u201d and there were also recent photos of the two families spending a holiday together.<\/p>\n

Neale spent three seasons as Lions co-captain, alongside key defender Harris Andrews, and the club played in the grand final each year, winning the premiership in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n

\"LachieCamera IconLachie Neale served as Brisbane\u2019s co-captain with Harris Andrews. Credit: JAMES ROSS\/AAPIMAGE<\/p>\n

The Lions pledged their support for the 32-year-old while also promising to stand by Jules.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acknowledge Lachie\u2019s decision to step down as Co-Captain and from the leadership group. Being a captain of the Brisbane Lions comes with a high level of expectation and commitment to uphold our Club values and lead by example.\u201d Brisbane General Manager of Football Danny Daly said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thank Lachie for his contribution as a leader of our club for the past three seasons during a highly successful period and look forward to Lachie remaining an important part of our Club in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur priority as a football Club is to always support our people and their families. We\u2019ve been doing this privately with both Lachie and Jules during this difficult time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do ask that their privacy and that of their children and families is respected at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

But with Jules now in Perth with the couple\u2019s two children, the focus has quickly turned to how Neale will combine footy and fatherhood.<\/p>\n

Neale is from South Australia but started his career at Fremantle and played 135 games for the club while winning two Doig Medals. He then moved to Brisbane where he won two Brownlow Medals, four club best-and-fairest awards, and was selected in four All-Australian teams.<\/p>\n

He and Jules considered moving back to Perth in 2021 and the veteran\u2019s contract expires at the end of this season. Neale said he doesn\u2019t know where he\u2019ll play in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t really considered that yet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"LachieCamera IconLachie Neale started his AFL career with Fremantle. Credit: Paul Kane\/Getty Images\/AFL Media<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my decision was always going to be put on hold with my contract regardless. We\u2019ll work that out in the next six months. We\u2019ve got a bit of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be here for this season coming up. I\u2019m fully committed to putting everything I can into footy and can\u2019t wait to get into training.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lions must now decide whether to appoint a replacement for Neale as co-captain or enter 2026 with Andrews as the sole skipper.<\/p>\n

Midfielders Hugh McCluggage and Josh Dunkley were the club\u2019s two vice-captains last season. Neale revealed he spoke to the club about the possibility of standing down as captain last season.<\/p>\n

The Lions are on their Christmas break and will return to the club next week to resume trainig.<\/p>\n

But Neale has already been in contact with many of them in recent weeks in the hope of maintaining a sense of normality within the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to my teammates,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like they\u2019ll have my back. So I\u2019m looking forward to the 8th of Jan when I can see them face to face.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to quite a few of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

LACHIE NEALE TIMELINE<\/p>\n

September 27 2025: Neale captains Brisbane to a premiership and celebrates on the field with wife Jules plus friends Ben and Tess Crosley.<\/p>\n

November 2025: Goes on holidays with Jules, Tess and Ben.<\/p>\n

December 16: Jules posts photos on social media of her son\u2019s first birthday party. Lachie Neale doesn\u2019t appear in any images and Jules no longer follows him or Tess.<\/p>\n

December 19 2025: Jules Neale responds to media reports about her marriage by posting on social media that she has been betrayed. A media storm erupts.<\/p>\n

January 2 2026: Lachie Neale stands down as Brisbane co-captain, confirms he and Jules have separated while apologising for his actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane Lions star Lachie Neale has broken his silence and apologised for the actions which led to his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,3237,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-387007","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-brisbane-lions","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387007","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=387007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}