Brisbane teammates claim they don’t need Lachie Neale to beat Fremantle in the grand final on Saturday as he prepares to fight a one-match ban at the tribunal on Tuesday night.
The Lions’ appeal is set to hinge on evidence from Hawthorn star Jack Ginnivan, who copped a gut punch from Neale off-the-ball in the preliminary final.
The reigning back-to-back premiers are also expected to reference multiple precedents, including one set by the tribunal involving West Coast star Harley Reid and a fiery western derby moment earlier in the year, to escape the ban.
After the Lions elected to challenge the suspension, the tribunal will sit at 3pm AWST (5pm AEST) on Tuesday night to decide his fate.
The club are expected to centre their argument on compelling and exceptional circumstances, the same clause that saved Collingwood great Scott Pendlebury from suspension in March.
The Lions will cite Pendlebury’s hearing on March 17 this year. However, the acts in the cases of Pendlebury and Neale are starkly different.
The Magpie great was charged with rough conduct for a bump on Adelaide’s Josh Worrell.
His proposed one-match suspension was downgraded to a $3000 fine after Pendlebury’s advocate Myles Tehan successfully argued the ex-Pies captain “stands in a class of his own”, having never previously been before the tribunal in a 21-year AFL career.
“It’s frankly difficult to imagine how it could not constitute an exceptional and compelling circumstance (to avoid a ban),” Tehan told the hearing.
“I should say this is not by any means a good bloke clause or a get of jail free card or anything of that nature.”
Tribunal chair tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC then interjected.
“I might add, it never has been. It’s misreported as being something to that effect from time to time,” Gleeson said.
“But people who read the guidelines and listen to what the tribunal says will understand it’s nothing to do with being a good bloke.
“It’s to do with whether the circumstances are exceptional and compelling.”
The relevant clause states: “Players will not automatically receive a reduced sanction for a good record. However, if a classifiable offence is contested or referred to the tribunal, a player with an exemplary record may argue that their good record constitutes exceptional and compelling circumstances”.
Neale, a 320-gamer, is a dual Brownlow medallist; a dual premiership captain; a four-time All Australian; a four-time club champion who, like Pendlebury, has never been suspended.
His exemplary history gives the Lions cause to argue and hope for a reprieve.
Another precedent Brisbane could highlight in their attempt to clear Neale is the sanction handed to West Coast’s Harley Reid for striking Fremantle’s Matt Johnson in the western derby back in July.
The intentional elbow to the stomach from Reid resulted in Johnson being awarded a free kick.
Reid was later cited by the match review officer and offered a fine, with the incident graded as intentional, low impact and to the body.
Neale’s gut punch on Ginnivan was graded intentional conduct, medium impact and body contact. The Lions could argue that Neale’s impact on Ginnivan was less than Reid’s on Johnson.
Ginnivan is expected to give evidence at Neale’s tribunal hearing. An admission that he exaggerated impact, for example, could help the appeal.
The club are hopeful that at the very least the punishment will be downgraded to a fine, which would allow Neale to play in a fourth consecutive grand final.
If the Lions’ appeal fails, Neale is likely to have played his last match for the club, as he’s set to join Collingwood next season.
As much as the Lions are “praying” that the 33-year-old is cleared to play, the reigning premiers are confident they can overcome the potential loss of their talisman to clinch a third successive flag.
“It’ll be disappointing if he doesn’t play,” Lions midfielder Levi Ashcroft said.
“He’s obviously a huge part of our team. He’s in great form. “Hopefully. he does play. We’re banking on that, but I feel like we’ve got a really good midfield that surrounds him.
“If it goes either way, we’ll be ready to go.”
Another member of Brisbane’s on-ball brigade, Jarrod Berry, who spends most of his time on the wing, admitted “clearance beast” Neale would be “hard to replace”.
“He’s definitely important to us, that’s for sure,” Berry said.
“We’ll be sitting tight (on Tuesday night), praying that he’s getting off … (but) talking about adversity, one of our best traits has been able to deal with that.
“There’s no point putting any energy into it until we know exactly what the result is. Once we know, then we’ll start working out a plan.”
If Neale doesn’t play on Saturday, defender Noah Answerth, who has missed Brisbane’s past two games with an ankle injury, looms as his likely replacement if deemed fit enough to return.
Answerth returning to the 23 to replace Neale would lead to a reshuffle, which would put more on-ball responsibility on the likes of Levi and Will Ashcroft, Berry and perhaps even the versatile Jaspa Fletcher.
“We’ll see what happens with Lachie,” Fletcher said.
“The club will do their best to work with him, and us boys will get around him as well … (but) we’ve also got people that are ready to step up and play their role if needed.
“I’m just eager to play my role, and be part of such a great thing again. Any part I can play to help the team and have an impact, I’ll be super keen for.”
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