Lachie Neale is used to being the villain. He stepped up in ‘go time’ of a heist for the ages

An outsized focus on Lachie Neale had become the new norm at the Brisbane Lions in 2026.

Not only was he in the centre circle when the heat was on, as he had been ever since starting with the Dockers in 2013, he was suddenly the central character in a sporting drama – attracting tabloid headlines to gossip columns to trade speculation.

Lachie Neale was swamped by his Lions teammates after the grand final.AFL PhotosSo, when the news came through he had been suspended for the grand final for punching Hawthorn’s Jack Ginnivan in the guts, there was surprise, but no panic.

Football boss Danny Daly went to work to try to clear him, while also arranging contingency plans to send the dual Brownlow medallist to Naracoorte in South Australia to be with his dad Robbie if Thursday’s appeal failed.

But Neale didn’t need to implement those plans after all – the appeals board overturning the suspension, allowing him to play in his fifth grand final.

Neale copped an initial one-game ban for this gut punch on Jack Ginnivan.Getty Images, Fox FootyThe lead-up, plus his status as a former Docker, meant Neale was always going to be the villain on grand final day. For the sort of people who indulge in booing, it was a matter of picking their reason.

Those boos rang out loud and clear as soon as Neale entered the arena at the nine-minute mark after starting the third of his five grand finals on the bench.

“I don’t give a shit about that, whatever,” he said.

“I used to play for them as well, which probably added to it.

“It’s part of the game – honestly it doesn’t bother me.”

Neale didn’t take over like he did in the second half the previous year, when he came on at half-time as the “super-sub” when the scores were level, finishing the match with 17 touches in a half.

On this occasion, his hands were quick when the ball was in his vicinity, and his mind was willing, but his Dockers opponents were able to find too much space at centre bounces and dominated.

But the clearances had been few and far between when the Dockers opened up what looked like a matchwinning 17-point lead with less than five minutes remaining and with Neale sitting on the pine.

“Wharfie Time” then made the MCG erupt as Neale rose to his 177-centimetre height and took a breath.

He joined Will Ashcroft, Josh Dunkley and Sam Draper in the middle to see if they could pull off the biggest heist in grand final history.

He said they had planned for “Wharfie Time” to be “go time”.

“The mentality to switch that, and it be ‘go time’ for us, was important,” Neale said.

“‘Fages’ once described us as cockroaches – we just don’t die.”

Neale won the first touch and Ashcroft rose with him. It was his career at the Lions writ large as he lifted them off the canvas after joining the club back in 2019. He won’t be there next season, confirming post-match that this was his last game for the Lions.

“I’ve loved my time at this club, they are an exceptional club,” he told Seven before his expected move to Collingwood in the coming weeks.

“It’s been the best eight years of my life. It’s been an incredible ride. I love this group, [and] I’m going to miss them every much.”

Neale’s teammates knew what he had given them, with Ashcroft saying, “I love him so much”, while Jarrod Berry admitted so much attention being on Neale wasn’t a bad thing for his teammates.

“Unfortunately, I have had experience in compartmentalising things and getting on with the job,” Neale said.

With 20 touches and a third consecutive premiership medal, his job was done. He hugged his dad and kissed his new girlfriend, Emma Field, and stood with a can of beer in his hand.

“In a weird way, it’s a strength of mine – my resilience on the field and off the field,” Neale explained.

“There are people doing it a lot worse than me. I have won my third premiership at an amazing organisation, so I can’t really complain.

“I have just got to get on with the job and try to be better as a human, and as a footballer.”

There was no room for pride, he said, but he had kept at it as the Lions asked him to when all was exploding around him.

Club president Andrew Wellington could only praise Neale, and the rest of the club, for how they prevailed in such circumstances.

“There is always risk, when you have got a bit of turmoil, that it can affect [you] ... but credit to all the leaders, including Lachie, that they did not let that disturb what they were trying to do,” Wellington said.

“Everyone just asked him, [that] as long as he is with us, he gives us everything, and he has done that.”

The note that helped Patrick Voss after grand final heartbreakPatrick Voss, almost more than any other Fremantle player on the day, typified the vast contrast between winning and losing. Late on Saturday afternoon, he became the unexpected shoulder of comfort amid a flood of Dockers despair.

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