{"id":842731,"date":"2026-08-04T02:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T02:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/842731\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T02:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T02:38:12","slug":"afl-news-2026-lachie-neale-meets-with-collingwood-brisbane-teammate-dayne-zorko-responds-jordan-lewis-jonathan-brown-and-kane-cornes-weigh-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/842731\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL News 2026: Lachie Neale meets with Collingwood; Brisbane teammate Dayne Zorko responds; Jordan Lewis, Jonathan Brown and Kane Cornes weigh in"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane<\/a> star Lachie Neale<\/a> toured Collingwood\u2019s<\/a> training facilities in Victoria the day before his side\u2019s shock loss to Carlton<\/a> on Saturday, and teammate Dayne Zorko<\/a> has conceded he would not have done the same if he was in that position.<\/p>\n

Neale, a free agent at the end of the season, looks likely to leave the Lions, with the Magpies among the teams keen<\/a> on the dual Brownlow Medallist.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lachie Neale met with Collingwood before the side\u2019s thrashing at the hands of Carlton.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

It was initially thought the 33-year-old would return to Western Australia to be closer with his children<\/a> after a very public split with wife Jules in January, or return to South Australia where he grew up, but joining Collingwood now appears to be the most likely outcome.<\/p>\n

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan initially expressed his support<\/a> for Neale if he wished to leave the club given his personal issues, but later called reports he could join the Pies, rather than return to WA, \u201chead scratching\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zorko understands the current trade landscape is evolving fast and says they aren\u2019t using the distraction as an excuse for their 76-point thrashing on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not normal practice in years gone by, but this is the new age of the sport we live in,\u201d Zorko told SEN in Queensland on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an opportunity for him to go through, but I don\u2019t know I haven\u2019t spoken to him about it, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s unusual these days. We see it in other codes, and it will filter into AFL<\/a>, but we won\u2019t use it as an excuse as to why we played so poorly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is what it is; we understand the AFL and players market is big business. Distractions will always come out as a cause, but it\u2019s of no relevance to how a team plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he would have met with a rival club the day before a game, Zorko admitted he likely wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully I\u2019m not in that position and probably not, but each to their own, he was down there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t do it secretly, it\u2019s not unknown that Collingwood want to have him so it\u2019s not a shock.<\/p>\n

\u201cCould he have done it Sunday? Potentially, but it doesn\u2019t matter when he does it, it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four-time Hawthorn<\/a> premiership star Jordan Lewis, however, was not as kind in his assessment, calling Neale\u2019s decision \u201cinappropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if it was permitted or not, I just thought it was really inappropriate to be doing that the day before a game,\u201d Lewis told Fox Footy on Monday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe might be the player, and he seems like he\u2019s the player, that\u2019s able to do other things but then also be able to perform on game day, which is fantastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if I\u2019m his teammate I\u2019m thinking \u2018geez we are doing absolutely everything to get ourselves back in the season\u2019. I know he\u2019s a big performer, but he\u2019s checking out opposition facilities the day before (a game) and then they come out and perform like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought it was ill-timed, it was tone-deaf, and it was inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lachie Neale in action for Brisbane.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Brisbane champion Jonathan Brown believes it would have been less of an issue if Neale had met with Collingwood on the Sunday after the Blues loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t impact me as a supporter \u2013 and you can\u2019t question Lachie Neale\u2019s commitment to the club this year, he\u2019d probably be leading the best and fairest. But you\u2019ve got to put yourself in these situations,\u201d Brown said in response to Lewis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s you as the player going through it \u2013 and you might be able to compartmentalise \u2013 but who else does it impact? My teammates and my coaches? If it impacts any one of those guys by even one per cent, well it\u2019s had an impact on the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you\u2019re going for three flags or not, at the end of the day, this is an individual season. I\u2019m just thinking, could you do it afterwards? Do it the day after.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I met Collingwood after a game. They asked: \u2018Do you want to meet before the game?\u2019 And I was (hesitant) \u2026 Even my mindset was, no, I wouldn\u2019t be comfortable if my teammates knew about this before the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes<\/a> agrees with Lewis\u2019 view, saying he \u201ccannot stand\u201d players meeting rival clubs before a game.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got a chance to be in absolute rare air and win three premierships in a row, you\u2019re fighting for a top four position to do that – and the day before a game you\u2019re at another club\u2019s facility,\u201d he told SEN on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure if that is in the best interests of his footy club. I bet you if you ask Chris Fagan and those at Brisbane – whilst publicly they will say they don\u2019t have an issue with it – I reckon they\u2019d be furious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neale has achieved everything a player could at the Lions, captaining them to two premierships, winning a Brownlow Medal and four club best and fairests.<\/p>\n

Collingwood will be hoping to pair him with Nick Daicos in their midfield in 2027, likely as a replacement for Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom, who may retire at the end of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane star Lachie Neale toured Collingwood\u2019s training facilities in Victoria the day before his side\u2019s shock loss to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-842731","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"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842731","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=842731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}