\n Zac Bailey says array of midfield options are keen to step in in the wake of Lachie Neale’s short-term injury\n <\/p>\n
Lachie Neale, Jaspa Fletcher and Tom Doedee during Brisbane’s training session at Brighton Homes Arena on July 24, 2025. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n
BRISBANE livewire Zac Bailey didn’t know about Lachie Neale’s injury until he heard about it “in the media”.<\/p>\n
Admitting it left the group “flat”, the All-Australian contender is confident the reigning premier can cope with the two-time Brownlow Medal-winner’s absence until the finals.<\/p>\n
“He’s a huge out for us but I don’t think we’re as reliant on him to win the ball for us these days,” a relaxed Bailey said of Neale, who will miss the final three home-and-away fixtures with a quadriceps injury.<\/p>\n
“Guys around him have stepped up their game.<\/p>\n
“‘Hughy’ (McCluggage), ‘Dunks’ (Josh Dunkley), Will (Ashcroft) have taken their games to another level.”<\/p>\n
Brisbane’s midfield stocks are enviable and Bailey, one of many who could run through there more often against Sydney at the Gabba on Saturday, admitted a virtual queue had formed.<\/p>\n
“Jarrod Berry, he can play both inside and out, Levi (Ashcroft) would love to go inside and there’s a few others trying to get in there,” he said.<\/p>\n
“(We were) pretty flat; he kept it pretty quiet, I found out in the media but it’ll give him an opportunity freshen up and come back ready to attack finals.”<\/p>\n
Bailey, adapting to more time on a wing, is averaging a career-high 18.84 disposals this season and scoring more than ever before, with 29 goals to go with 24 behinds in 19 games.<\/p>\n
In his eighth season, he’s also averaging more than one mark inside-50 each game for the first time.<\/p>\n
“I just wanted to be consistent and I feel like I’ve been able to do that and grasp what needs to be done around that wing role,” he said.<\/p>\n
The Lions, fresh off a statement victory against Collingwood at the MCG last weekend, are third (14-5-1) but need to finish well in games against the Swans, Fremantle and Hawthorn to lock in a top-four spot.<\/p>\n
“It was pretty important we got ourselves up and we need to continue with that same mindset,” Bailey said of the Magpies win that followed a disappointing loss to Gold Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zac Bailey says array of midfield options are keen to step in in the wake of Lachie Neale’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":["post-49519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49519","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=49519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}