Brisbane Lions gun Lachie Neale has warned rivals he’s playing “some of the best footy of my career” amid his team’s premiership push, adamant last year’s runners-up have the capacity to win the flag from outside the top four.
The two-time Brownlow medallist, named All-Australian for a third time last week, hits Saturday’s elimination final against Carlton in sizzling form having racked up 40 possessions in the Lions’ last-start 20-point win over Essendon.
It’s put him in the frame for a third Brownlow having escalated his game off the back of a limited pre-season, with his increasing dominance matching his team that recovered from a 0-3 start, and two wins in the first seven matches, to finish fifth, opening the door for a return to the grand final.
“I feel like I’ve been building similar to the team for the back half of the year,” the Lions co-captain said on Tuesday.
“I didn’t have much of a pre-season. I didn’t really do anything in the off-season after some surgery, so for the first few weeks I was finding my legs.
AFL Rd 24 – Brisbane v Essendon
Lachie Neale was unstoppable against Essendon. Picture: Chris Hyde/AFL Photos/via Getty Images
“I feel like my form’s correlated with the team a little bit, and I honestly feel like some of the best footy of my career, so I’m confident in what I can do.
“My game is in good order. I’m reading the game a bit better than I was in the first half of the year and getting into more dangerous spots.
“Hopefully, I can go out there and deliver and play my role for the team. Whether that’s a big game stats wise, it doesn’t matter. I might get tagged, or whatever happens on the day, but playing my role I feel confident that I’m able to do that with the way I’m performing at the moment.”
Neale was unsure what the Blues would have in store for him in terms of a tag.
“The last couple of times it’s been (George) Hewett and (Adam) Cerra doing a bit of a role at stoppages but not a full tag, but then this year since we last played them, (Alex) Cincotta has done some really good roles,” Neale said.
“He might go to someone like ‘Zorks’ (Dayne Zorko) or he might play on a dangerous small forward. Who knows?
“With Hewett, we’ve probably broken even over the last few years. I’m looking forward to playing Patty (Cripps), a superstar of the comp. It’s always a pleasure to play against those players and rise to those occasions.”
Congrats to our Lions legends Dayne Zorko and Lachie Neale for being named 2024 All-Australians, with Zorks earning his second honour at 35 and Lachie securing his fourth 🦁💪 pic.twitter.com/2XCvT1jmy0
— Brisbane Lions (@brisbanelions) August 29, 2024
The Lions are set to embark on their sixth successive finals series campaign, with Neale having been a part of all of them after joining the club ahead of the 2019 season.
He said that experience, wins and losses, provided players like himself with the knowledge needed to get through those moments that can make or break a team’s premiership tilt.
“There have been some great lessons for us for six years now,” he said.
“Finals are built on moments. We’ve stuffed up a lot of big moments.
“We’ve been through a range of experiences, not only in finals, but even this year, we’ve had to win in so many different ways.
“We feel we’re well equipped for any situation a game throws at us. We don’t have to do anything special. We know that simple brilliance gets it done in finals and when we stray away from that, we lose our way a little bit.”
Now isn’t the time for the Lions to “lose their way” given they will walk the finals tightrope after missing a top-four spot.
“We don’t expect it to be an easy ride, but we feel like if we play our best footy, we’re every chance of winning it,” Neale said.
