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Fremantle Dockers v Brisbane Lions: AFL grand final 2026 – live
Lachie Neale is one Brisbane player who should be arriving at the MCG with a huge smile on his face after the dual Brownlow medallist had a one-match ban overturned on appeal on Thursday night.
The former Dockers midfielder is thought to be playing his 186th and final game for the Lions today, with a move to the Magpies reportedly on the cards. But some of our From the Pocket subscribers were keen to question whether he should be playing at all today.
“The penalty for punching an opponent is 1 week suspension,” Harry Collins said. “The consequences of that are immaterial.”
“All season the AFL has been trying to clamp down on off-the-ball hits like that,” Nick Seuss added. “But Lachie Neale does it in a prelim and [Tim] Watson thinks he should be granted clemency??? Barry Hall got away with one long ago, but thuggery is thuggery. We have seen the video.”
Neale, of course, is not the first – and surely won’t be the last – player to miss a grand final with a preliminary final brain fade. I can still feel the pain of Kangaroos defender Jason McCartney’s swinging arm that collected Lions ruck Clark Keating in 1999.
Jacqueline Randall also had an incident to recall: “I’m pretty sure Steve O’Dwyer from my beloved Dees’ also missed a GF too – he was suspended in the prelim and missed the belting Melbourne received at the hands of the terrifying Hawks a week later. I’m still haunted by that awful loss.”
Will Mrongovius went even further back: “Phil Carmen missed two GF after being suspended in 1977.”