Lachie Neale appeals one‑match suspension ahead of AFL Grand Final

There has been a new twist in Lachie Neale’s fight to play in Saturday’s grand final.

The Lions could be forced to focus on Neale’s history of never having been suspended rather than contesting the intentional strike finding before the AFL Appeals Board, after reports that new vision had surfaced that is likely to be damaging to his case.

The previously unseen vision is said to show more clearly the Neale gut punch on Hawk Jack Ginnivan, which Neale had described as more of a body check.

The AFL and Neale’s legal counsel have been contacted for comment on the purported vision, from an optical tracking trial being conducted by Champion Data which involves 46 cameras feeding into a sophisticated data-capture system.

Champion is the AFL’s official data provider and is 49 per cent owned by the league.

The vision could potentially prevent the Lions from arguing Neale did not intentionally strike Ginnivan.

Neale has played 320 games without being suspended.

But, as pointed out during the tribunal hearing, Neale has previously been cited eight times by the tribunal and either fined or warned. Several of those times were for striking the body of opponents.