{"id":904254,"date":"2026-09-24T22:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T22:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/904254\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T22:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T22:44:13","slug":"afl-appeals-board-lachie-neale-hearing-result-reaction-video-brisbane-lions-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/904254\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL appeal\u2019s board | Lachie Neale hearing result, reaction, video; Brisbane Lions comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lachie Neale\u2019<\/a>s last-ditch attempt to play in the grand final has proved successful, with the appeals board downgrading his sanction to a $10,000 fine. <\/p>\n

Two days after a mammoth four-hour hearing at the tribunal which found him guilty of striking Hawthorn\u2019s Jack Ginnivan<\/a>, Neale and the Lions<\/a> fronted the appeal board in hopes to get his sanction cleared due to the small details that were absent in the ruling made on his case earlier this week. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lachie Neale is free to play in Saturday\u2019s grand final.\u00a0AFL Photos<\/p>\n

While the AFL<\/a> brought new \u201csharper\u201d footage to the board on Thursday, the vision was not eligible to be used. The AFL\u2019s barrister delivered a 45-minute address to prove the organisation\u2019s position to be correct.<\/p>\n

But the short delivery proved not enough to uphold the decision, with Neale and the Lions celebrating his chance to compete for a third-straight premiership. <\/p>\n

Lions official had little hope for Neale victory<\/p>\n

Matthew Lloyd has revealed that he was in contact with a Lions official who was not overly confident that Neale would be cleared to play in the grand final. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018We are not hopeful at all\u2019,\u201d Lloyd revealed on Nine\u2019s The Footy Show Grand Final Telethon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a decision that (the Lions) felt they had 15 per cent chance of getting off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Essendon great believes the correct ruling was made on Thursday night, labelling the initial sanction as \u201ctoo big a penalty to miss a grand final\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nathan Brown admitted he feels \u201cthere a different set of rules for grand finals\u201d when incidents like Neale\u2019s unfolded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is good for footy,\u201d Brown, a premiership winner himself, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be people saying, \u2018This is what we wanted to stamp out\u2019 … He is the best player in the game over the last few years. We want the big name players there (at the grand final).<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be plenty of boos going on when he gets the football, but the game will be better for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary Lyon described the entire hearing process as \u201cutterly shambolic\u201d, but agreed the \u201cright decision was made\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA $10,000 fine is substantial, the whack (on Ginnivan) was stupid,\u201d he said on AFL360.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is utterly shambolic to arrive at a decision that ultimately could have been arrived at had the vision been available on day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Neale<\/p>\n

Neale was overjoyed when he spoke to reporters.\u00a09News<\/p>\n

Neale \u2018very happy\u2019 with appeal board\u2019s ruling<\/p>\n

Neale could not wipe the smile off his face as he fronted the media shortly after learning his ban had been overturned.<\/p>\n

The midfielder told reporters that he \u201cwasn\u2019t very hopeful or doubtful\u201d when the video call began as he had never been in such a situation before. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been in this situation, so I wasn\u2019t sure how it would play out,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe (last couple of days) have been nerve-racking. Being in footy finals territory, I wasn\u2019t sure what to do with myself. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am very happy with the appeal board\u2019s decision. I am looking forward to playing the grand final now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll definitely have a bit more pep in my step.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neale said he hoped the appeal board\u2019s ruling would take \u201cthe attention\u201d away from him and allow the team to prepare as usual. <\/p>\n

He said he felt no pressure to prove to the AFL world that he was worthy of taking part in the grand final against Fremantle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I have a point to prove on Saturday,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to play my part. It will be a difficult challenge against Freo, but hopefully, we can get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neale ended with a clear message about his reported trade to Collingwood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho says it\u2019s my last game for Brisbane?\u201d<\/p>\n

Then asked if he is not leaving, Neale replied: \u201cI didn\u2019t say that. We will wait and see what happens at the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lachie Neale has been preparing for the grand final despite these hearings.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Fremantle fan the first to congratulate Neale<\/p>\n

While many would expect for Dockers fans to be frustrated by the outcome, one Fremantle had a surprising reaction when they were the first to see Neale after the verdict.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Neale spoke with reporters, he walked with team officials towards a group of supporters who had been waiting for the result. <\/p>\n

The first supporter to approach Neale was a Fremantle fan, who reached out to shake his hand before sharing a couple of words ahead of the grand final. Neale played 135 games for Fremantle before moving to the Lions in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations. We will see you on Saturday,\u201d the man said as he patted Neale\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

Neale had a smile on his face after hearing those words before he continued to walk away with team staffers. <\/p>\n

Brisbane captain Harris Andrews said shortly after Neale\u2019s encounter with the Dockers fan that the team was elated with the successful appeal. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited for him,\u201d Andrews said on Nine\u2019s The Footy Show Grand Final Telethon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a very big week in the media for him. To get the result of him playing is unreal. He has been an integral part of our club for eight years … I am absolutely pumped for him. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow we can just focus on getting to work and be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did the hearing play out?<\/p>\n

The Lions fronted the appeal board with a case formed around whether the tribunal considered that Neale would miss the grand final if the ban was upheld. <\/p>\n

The AFL, on the other hand, arrived at the video hearing with \u201csharper\u201d new vision of the incident captured by Champion Data, which is conducting player tracking trials at the MCG. That footage was not available at the time of Tuesday\u2019s tribunal hearing.<\/p>\n

The new footage was set to all but dismiss the Lions\u2019 argument that the original, grainy vision shown to the tribunal was not sufficient to prove if Neale did strike Hawthorn\u2019s Jack Ginnivan or if he even had a closed fist when the pair collided. <\/p>\n

Richard Loveridge, the board chair, ruled the new vision did not meet the guidelines required for the board to accept new evidence as part of Thursday\u2019s hearing. <\/p>\n

But even without the new vision, the AFL looked to have enough evidence to disprove the Lions\u2019 case that the importance of missing a grand final was not considered by the tribunal.<\/p>\n

Andrew Woods KC\u00a0argued on behalf of the AFL that the Lions were relying on minor details from the tribunal\u2019s comments on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He also reiterated Brisbane\u2019s suggestion the tribunal would not have considered \u201ceverything it needs to\u201d, including the importance of missing a grand final, was incorrect. <\/p>\n

The appeal board only needed 20 minutes to determine that Neale\u2019s punishment would be reduced to a $10,000 fine \u2013 an option the Lions had put forward as an alternative sanction \u2013 due to his perfect record of 320 games with no sanctions. <\/p>\n

The decision means that Neale will play what many believe will be his last game for the Lions, amid reports he is looking to be traded to Collingwood. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lachie Neale\u2019s last-ditch attempt to play in the grand final has proved successful, with the appeals board downgrading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":904255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-904254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904254","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=904254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}