Lachie Neale will play in Saturday’s AFL grand final after the AFL Appeal Board overturned his one-match suspension on Thursday night, clearing the way for Brisbane’s star midfielder to chase a third straight premiership against Fremantle at the MCG.
The two-time Brownlow medallist was instead fined $10,000 for striking Hawthorn’s Jack Ginnivan during Brisbane’s preliminary final win on Saturday.
“We find that Neale’s record is exemplary, and that he should be afforded the benefit of the provision,” the Appeal Board found.
The AFL Tribunal had upheld the one-match ban earlier in the week. Neale’s counsel, Adrian Anderson, took the case to the Appeal Board, arguing there were exceptional and compelling circumstances, including a record of no suspensions across 320 AFL games. AFL counsel Andrew Woods KC opposed the appeal, arguing the Tribunal had already weighed the consequences of a grand final suspension.
The three-member panel of chair Richard Loveridge, Steven Jurica and Wayne Henwood heard the case for close to two hours and deliberated for less than 30 minutes.
In its reasons, the board said the Tribunal had erred by having regard to whether the conduct was intentional. “The relevant inquiry was whether … there was exceptional and compelling circumstances. In this case, that was Neale’s record,” it found.
Neale welcomed the ruling.
“I’m obviously very happy with the Appeal Board’s decision,” he said. “After this, hopefully all the attention is off me and we get ready to play on Saturday in the Grand Final.”
He played down any talk of extra motivation. “I wouldn’t say I’ve got a bigger point to prove. I just want to play my part and win on Saturday,” he said.
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said he had expected Neale to take his place. “I thought he would play, it has probably taken longer than expected,” he said.
Former Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd backed the ruling. “I agree with the decision … I think it was too big a penalty to pay, to miss a Grand Final for an act like that,” he said.
Both clubs have named unchanged teams. Fremantle omitted defender Brennan Cox despite his recovery from a calf injury, naming him as an emergency with Jaeger O’Meara and Chris Scerri. Brisbane’s Noah Answerth, back from an ankle injury, is an emergency along with Bruce Reville and Cody Curtin.
Neale, who began his career at Fremantle, now faces his former club with Brisbane chasing a third consecutive flag after beating Sydney and Geelong in the past two grand finals. Fremantle are in only their second grand final.
The match starts at 2.30pm AEST on Saturday.