Brisbane midfielder Lachie Neale will miss Saturday’s AFL grand final against Fremantle after the league tribunal upheld his one-match suspension.
Neale challenged the classification of an off-the-ball incident involving Hawthorn’s Jack Ginnivan. He argued the contact was a body check rather than a strike and that any impact was low.
The tribunal rejected those arguments and also declined to set the sanction aside on exceptional and compelling circumstances, despite Neale’s previously clean record across 320 games.
The decision leaves Brisbane preparing for the premiership match without one of its most experienced players. Any further appeal would be subject to the AFL’s formal appeal rules and a qualifying ground.
Source: Australian Football League report.
Image disclosure: The featured image is an AI-generated conceptual editorial illustration. It does not depict Lachie Neale, another real player, the actual tribunal or Saturday’s match.
