{"id":906370,"date":"2026-09-26T15:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T15:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/906370\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T15:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T15:56:16","slug":"afl-2026-lachie-neale-confirms-hes-played-final-game-for-brisbane-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/906370\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Lachie Neale confirms he\u2019s played final game for Brisbane Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lachie Neale has confirmed he has played his last game for the Brisbane Lions and will leave the club in the off-season. <\/p>\n

The 33-year-old had a rollercoaster week which saw him suspended for a jumper punch on Hawthorn\u2019s Jack Ginnivan in the preliminary final. <\/p>\n

The ban was upheld at the AFL Tribunal but eventually overturned at the AFL Appeals Board due to Neale\u2019s exemplary record and the fact he had never previously been suspended in his 320-game career. <\/p>\n

The Lions midfielder wasn\u2019t quite at his influential best in the grand final win but finished with 20 disposals as he claimed a third premiership medal. He received a frosty reception from the crowd at the MCG, booed whenever he touched the ball. <\/p>\n

Speaking on the field post game, Neale confirmed he would be departing the Lions, saying \u201cI\u2019m going to miss them\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt just doesn\u2019t feel real at the moment but I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll sink in,\u201d he told Channel 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve absolutely loved my time at this footy club. They\u2019re an exceptional organisation from top to bottom and I can\u2019t thank them enough for the last eight years. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible ride. The best eight years of my life. To finish it with three premierships is something as a kid I never would have dreamt of. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure they\u2019re going to keep competing. That\u2019s the club they are and the people they\u2019ve got and the players they\u2019ve got as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love this group and I\u2019m going to miss them very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neale\u2019s contract at Brisbane is expiring and he is widely expected to join Collingwood on a three-year deal worth as much as $1 million per season. It will likely be the final contract of his career. <\/p>\n

Brisbane claimed a thrilling seven-point win to clinch a premiership three-peat, scoring the final four goals to take the lead in the dying stages of the game. <\/p>\n

Several Lions players revealed the team used the noise of the Fremantle\u2019s \u2018Wharfie Time\u2019 rallying cry as motivation to change the course of the game in the final quarter. <\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018I\u2019m going to miss them\u2019: Lachie Neale confirms worst kept secret<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lachie Neale has confirmed he has played his last game for the Brisbane Lions and will leave the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[474320,417990,474335,390818,325111,458182,474329,474322,380523,459273,401699,474334,380521,474325,638,474330,474327,474323,64,63,55,639,51668,651,41407,10990,84056,6854,474333,379545,380886,474321,394365,474340,25875,5660,17528,381011,349884,161,474326,85,385554,379302,469992,403219,377205,390357,474337,403685,382205,412083,377127,449308,379398,474328,474338,474332,446145,474336,74713,474331,474324,377191,7709,474339,403687,225862,381100,379066,175806,460256,315971,239728,465333,413294,446623,4048,14850,345662,307777],"class_list":["post-906370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-rallying-cry","tag-s-contract","tag-s-exemplary-record","tag-s-jack-ginnivan","tag-my-life","tag-20-disposals","tag-a-frosty-reception","tag-a-jumper-punch","tag-a-kid","tag-a-premiership-three-peat","tag-a-rollercoaster","tag-a-third-premiership-medal","tag-a-three-year-deal","tag-a-thrilling-seven-point-win","tag-afl","tag-an-exceptional-organisation","tag-an-incredible-ride","tag-as-much-as-1-million","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-bottom","tag-brisbane","tag-channel-7","tag-collingwood","tag-competing","tag-hawthorn","tag-his-320-game-career","tag-his-career","tag-his-future","tag-his-influential","tag-his-last-game","tag-his-third-premiership","tag-lachie-neale","tag-minutes","tag-motivation","tag-my-time","tag-neale","tag-season","tag-several-lions-players","tag-sports","tag-the-33-year-old","tag-the-afl","tag-the-afl-appeals-board","tag-the-afl-tribunal","tag-the-ball","tag-the-ban","tag-the-best-eight-years","tag-the-brisbane-lions","tag-the-club","tag-the-course","tag-the-crowd","tag-the-dying-stages","tag-the-fact","tag-the-field-post-game","tag-the-final-contract","tag-the-final-four-goals","tag-the-final-quarter","tag-the-fremantle","tag-the-game","tag-the-grand-final-win","tag-the-last-eight-years","tag-the-lead","tag-the-lions","tag-the-lions-midfielder","tag-the-mcg","tag-the-moment","tag-the-noise","tag-the-people","tag-the-players","tag-the-preliminary-final","tag-the-team","tag-the-worst","tag-this-footy-club","tag-this-group","tag-three-premierships","tag-top","tag-week","tag-wharfie-time","tag-worst"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906370","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=906370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}