Brisbane Lions star Lachie Neale has succeeded in his appeal against a one-match ban and will play in the upcoming grand final.
Neale was given the good news on Thursday evening following a hearing of the AFL Appeals Board ahead of the Lions’ AFL premiership decider against the Fremantle Dockers on Saturday.
He will instead be fined $10,000.
The two-time Brownlow Medal winner has won two premierships as co-captain of the Lions and this year’s grand final is set to be a fairytale way to wind up his playing career at the Brisbane club.
This was thrown in doubt, however, when he was handed a one-game ban for a behind-the-play hit on Hawthorn’s Jack Ginnivan in last weekend’s preliminary final.
The club unsuccessfully challenged that at the AFL tribunal on Tuesday, so Neale escalated to the Appeals Board.
Brisbane Lions star Lachie Neale (above) succeeded in his appeal against a one-match ban and will play in the upcoming finals decider
Neale was heard saying, ‘Thank you, Mr Chairman’ after the board decided to overturn the ban.
Neale’s case, as argued at the tribunal, was that he did not punch the Hawks player to the midriff, as it appeared on the low-resolution footage, but had knocked him to the ground using his arm and chest.
After a marathon four-and-a-half hour hearing, the tribunal upheld the charge and dismissed the Lions’ pleas for a downgrade to a fine due to the importance of the game and Neale’s record of never having been suspended in his long and decorated career.
As well as costing Neale a chance to be part of a team seeking a rare premiership hat-trick, it also meant he has likely played his last game for the Lions as he is widely expected to move to Collingwood next season.
Neale’s off-the-ball blow on Ginnivan was graded as intentional conduct, medium impact and body contact by match review officer Michael Christian.
The 33-year-old argued contact was made with his shoulder and chest and wasn’t a strike.
The charge against Neale (above) was downgraded so he will pay a $10,000 fine rather than suffer the ban
Neale said Ginnivan ‘might have taken a bit of a dive to get a free kick.’
‘My shoulder made contact with his body and shoulder first and my arm wrapped around Jack,’ he said.
‘But I didn’t feel like I was striking him at all. It was more a bump or body-check.’
But tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC dismissed Neale’s version of events.
‘We find that this was a forceful blow delivered with a swinging arm and an open hand,’ Gleeson said.
‘When played at normal speed, it appears clear to us that this was, to use the common vernacular, a strike to the guts.
‘We are comfortably satisfied that this is what occurred; we find that this is what Neale intended.
‘We have listened carefully to Mr Neale’s evidence but we find it was inconsistent in key respects with what we saw on the video and, to that extent, we do not accept it.’
The decision on Thursday saw Neale avoid becoming the first player to miss an AFL grand final following a preliminary-final suspension since Collingwood’s Anthony Rocca in 2003.
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