Brisbane Lions' Lachie Neale challenges one-match ban at AFL tribunal

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There has long been a belief that the AFL has a "good bloke" clause to get stars of the game out of sticky situations like the one facing Neale.

However in the case of Collingwood's Scott Pendlebury earlier this year - who had a one-match ban rough conduct ban reduced to a $3,000 fine - Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC rejected any such suggestion, pointing to the actual wording.

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.

Will the Tribunal find there are "exceptional and compelling circumstances" for Neale? We will wait and see.

Hope he goes for a row. Clean record or not, gut punching (contact grading) has been punished all season. Why should he be the exception? I also disagreed with Pendlebury's let off.

Wendy: All players must obey the rules regardless!!! They are what makes our game great. They are there for a reason.

Frank: Not much having rules if they are not enforced , sorry

Em: If this was any other week, he'd have no chance of getting off. The AFL have been clear all year, if you gut punch, it is a week suspension. They indicated that there were no exceptions to this, but knowing the AFL, they won't stick to their word...

Lenny: Ban Neale for the game snd show kids its not on to sucker punch on the field.

While there are is a list of players who have been rubbed out for the grand final because of various on-field misdemeanours, in recent times there have been a few fortunate folks who managed to avoid the ban at the tribunal or elsewhere.

In 1996, Sydney Swans full-back Andrew Dunkley was in strife for striking Essendon's James Hird in a famous prelim. He was banned three days before the big game.

The Swans went beyond appeals — they took it to court, and the Supreme Court of Victoria agreed that Dunkley would be denied natural justice if they had to sort the mess out before Saturday. Sydney won an injunction, Dunkley played, the Swans lost and Dunkley eventually got three weeks.

In 1999, Carlton forward Aaron Hamill was banned for dropping a knee into the head of Essendon's Dean Wallis during the Blues' stunning prelim win over the Bombers.

Carlton appealed. In an early example of what is today commonplace, they called a biomechanist to give evidence, and they swayed the appeals board to let Hamill play. The Blues lost to North Melbourne.

In 2005, Sydney made the grand final with a win over St Kilda, but the BBBBH (Big Bad Bustling Barry Hall, as ABC's own Roy and HG referred to him) himself ended up banned for a gut punch on Saints defender Matt Maguire.

The Swans appealed, Hall caught a private jet to Melbourne to appear, and Sydney's legal team convinced the appeals board that the offence was not off the ball (a rather heroic legal stance), downgrading it from level two to level one.

The board took just four minutes to wrap things up, Hall was clear to play, and went on to kick two goals and the co-captain was part of the team's first flag since 1933. Even Hall himself later admitted he should have been banned.

Most recently, Collingwood's Brayden Maynard was sent straight to the tribunal for a high bump on Melbourne's Angus Brayshaw in the 2023 qualifying final.

Facing a season-ending three match ban (at least), Maynard and the Pies produced a biomechanical expert who testified that although Maynard would have been like a "frisbee on legs" after leaving the ground, he could not have foreseen the result of his actions.

Maynard was cleared, and played in the Pies' grand final win over Brisbane — Brayshaw's acute concussion symptoms lingered, and he never played again.

If you're a complete Tribunal tragic, you can look back on all that craziness in our blog from that Maynard hearing here:

I think the Lions can win without him, Fages will need to make the right decisions on the team and matchups, and we will need some lucky factors like avoiding injuries to other key favours. But we have enough depth to overcome losing Neale.

Daniel: Neale tailed off a bit at the end of the season and hasn't been that good in the finals this year, Brisbane will be fine without him for the GF given their midfield depth. Don't think his on-field record should have any sway for an off-the-ball incident.

Only thing that should save him would be a challenge on the impact (low instead of high), which might come with challenging how conclusive the vision is.

As Lachie Neale prepares to front the appeals board, it's a fine time to look back at other players who found themselves in strife for the most important game of the year.

We have to remember that the offending incidents don't need to happen in a preliminary final, however.

Andrew Gaff's punch that broke Andrew Brayshaw's jaw in an fiery, fractious and infamous Western Derby saw the Eagles player miss West Coast's 2018 grand final win five weeks later.

Collingwood pair Anthony Rocca and Jason Cloke missed out on the decider a year apart, in 2003 and 2002 respectively, thanks to two-game striking bans.

Rocca hit Port Adelaide's Brendon Lade and failed on appeal, while Cloke hit Adelaide's Tyson Edwards in his prelim and also could not convince the appeals board.

North Melbourne's Jason McCartney missed out on the Kangaroos' most-recent flag, in 1999, for hitting Brisbane's Clarke Keating in the prelim.

Lesson to be learned here: stop hitting people, people!

Also in 1989, Hawthorn's Peter Schwab missed out on arguably the greatest grand final of all time, when he was given three weeks for a high hit on Essendon's Andrew Manning in the semi-final.

Perhaps the most infamous one of all happened in 1967, when Richmond ruck Neville Crowe missed the grand final (and a Tigers win over Geelong) for a striking charge on Carlton's John Nicholls in the semi-final. Nicholls had initiated things with a jumper punch, then Crowe swung, but missed.

However the umpire thought he connected and Nicholls responded … enthusiastically, falling to ground. Video evidence was not acceptable at the time, and the tribunal gave Crowe a four-week ban.

The hearing, which is being held remotely, is due to start at 5pm AEST.

This morning the Brisbane Lions held their open training session at Ipswich. Lachie Neale was there, along with teammates and a large crowd of Lions fans.

We're talking hypotheticals here, but if Lachie Neale is unsuccessful today, how do the Lions go about replacing him in the grand final?

A quick look at the Hawthorn-Brisbane prelim shows how many centre bounces the various Lions attended:

Neale's contribution was significant - he had 26 disposals, five tackles and nine clearances, including four vital centre clearances.

It's unclear who would take up the slack. Perhaps McCluggage might take more of a presence in the middle, although his role has not been similar to Neale's. There's no like-for-like replacement, so any increase in midfield time for people like Zac Bailey or Cam Rayner would have an impact on the forward line.

Bottom line - the Lions will REALLY be hoping that Neale is cleared today.

As an Eagles fan I'd like Neale to get off and then have 40 on Saturday, but like Brisbane's chances of winning, odds are very very slim. Flagmantle is (unfortunately) inevitable.

Phillip: The thing I find most strange is why on earth a player with such a record would deliberately punch another , from behind , knowing there are probably a dozen cameras watching . Sadly such an act is just not acceptable and he must stay outed imho.

ben: surely Neale's clean record his entire career will work in his favour

As things stand, Brisbane Lions are favoured to win their third flag in a row on Saturday.

There is no suggestion of a blowout to either side, but betting markets have the Lions with an edge over the Dockers.

The question is: will this remain the case if the Lions fail in their appeal?

You'd have to think that it would become a virtual flip-of-the-coin contest - at best - for Brisbane if Neale is unable to play.

What do YOU think — how much is Lachie Neale worth to Brisbane in this grand final?

Let us know in the comments.

The Brisbane Lions will be hoping to overturn the one-week ban at today's hearing.

However, it has to be said that several AFL players have been banned for gut punches this season alone.

These include Adelaide's Max Michalanney and Riley Thilthorpe, Carlton's Will Hayward, Richmond's Samson Ryan, and Hawthorn pair James Sicily and Dylan Moore.

So there is precedent for the penalty issued by the MRO.

We will have to wait a while to find out whether Lachie Neale joins this list or not.

It was the first quarter of the dramatic preliminary final between Hawthorn and Brisbane at the MCG on Saturday night.

The ball was in or near Brisbane's forward 50 when Hawthorn's Jack Ginnivan clashed with Lions forward Eric Hipwood.

The ball had moved on, and as Hipwood lay on the ground, Neale ran past Ginnivan and appeared to swing at the Hawthorn player's stomach. Ginnivan went down, but almost immediately got up again.

The assessment of the match review officer was: Intentional conduct, medium impact, and body contact.

That all adds up to a one-game ban as things stand — and no grand final for Neale. You can view the clip below:

Hello, good afternoon and welcome to ABC's live coverage of the AFL Tribunal hearing for Brisbane's Lachie Neale ahead of the grand final.

Some Tribunal hearings are normal occasions, and while they mean something to the team involved, they don't move the needle, so to speak.

Today, however, is not one of those occasions.

A dual Brownlow medallist, and former co-captain of the Lions, is facing the end of his career with Brisbane, and potentially missing out on a fourth straight grand final, thanks to a one-match striking ban following the preliminary final.

The stakes, then, are … high.

Will Neale win the day and manage to finish his time with the Lions on the last Saturday in September, or will the next game he plays potentially be in black and white?

My name is Andrew McGarry, and I will be bringing you all the arguments and the decision out of today's hearing.