Lachie Neale verdict in after Brisbane Lions’ last-ditch appeal ahead of AFL grand final

Lachie Neale will get the chance to farewell Brisbane as a three-time premiership player after winning a sensational last-ditch appeal ahead of Saturday’s AFL grand final against Fremantle .

The dual Brownlow medallist was initially rubbed out of the decider after the tribunal upheld his one-match ban for striking Hawthorn’s Jack Ginnivan in last weekend’s preliminary final.

But the Lions took the case to the AFL appeals board on Thursday night and Richard Loveridge, Stephen Jurica and Wayne Henwood found they successfully argued Neale’s case deserved exceptional and compelling treatment.

He will instead be fined $10,000 and is now free to face his former side.

Neale and the club did not challenge the tribunal’s finding that it was an intentional strike, only that the tribunal made an error of law in not considering the grand final as “an important factor” and whether intentional versus careless was relevant to debating whether there were exceptional and compelling circumstances.

Adrian Anderson, acting for Brisbane, said Neale should be hit with a $10,000 fine, or a number the appeals board decides, or that the one-match ban should be served in Round 1, 2027 — without mentioning that he is set to depart the club and join Collingwood.

The appeals board did not find there was an error of law by the tribunal in considering the importance of the grand final but said the tribunal members “did err in having regard to whether the conduct was intentional”.

“We accept the position of Neale in his written submissions that the intentional aspect was an element of the charge which had already been established,” Loveridge said.

“The relevant inquiry was whether despite the charge having been established there was exceptional and compelling circumstances. In this case that was Neale’s record.

“We find that Neale’s record is exemplary and that he should be afforded the benefit of the provision. In conclusion we allow the appeal. We order that Neale instead be fined $10,000.”

AFL counsel Andrew Woods KC sought to have “much sharper vision of the incident” submitted, where new evidence is not typically permitted to be used in an appeal, but he also acknowledged the tribunal found Neale guilty with inferior footage.

Anderson said the club could “not understand” why the footage was not available in time for Tuesday night’s tribunal hearing.

He said “it would have been immensely preferable” for the Lions to have had the “opportunity to view and address this vision at the tribunal hearing”.

The AFL’s bid to submit the vision was knocked back, with Anderson beginning his argument against “the failure by the tribunal” to ignore the option of applying the exceptional and compelling circumstances provision.