Veteran Lion Dayne Zorko has described the AFL tribunal’s decision to uphold Lachie’s Neale’s one-match suspension as “disappointing” as Brisbane weigh up their appeal options ahead of Saturday’s grand final.
On Tuesday night, Neale unsuccessfully challenged his one-match ban for striking Jack Ginnivan during the preliminary final clash against Hawthorn.
Not even Neale’s exemplary record of avoiding suspension in 320 AFL matches for Brisbane and former club Fremantle saved him from losing his shot at the Lions’ hat-trick of premierships.
The tribunal was highly critical of Neale, saying he gave “inconsistent” evidence about his clash with Ginnivan, as Brisbane desperately tried to have the impact downgraded from medium to low, allowing Neale to be fined instead and to be able to face Fremantle at the MCG.
Teammate Zorko spoke on Nova radio on Wednesday morning and said he waited for the outcome of Tuesday night’s hearing, which went for more than four hours.
“I was sort of just flicking over to the AFL app every now and then to see if there was an update, and incredibly, it took them 4½ hours,” he said.
“But yeah, I saw the result and then went to bed. I mean, there’s not much we can do now other than obviously appeal … but yeah, I think there were a few of us that sort of would have been waiting by our phones to see the result.”
Zorko said he had not spoken with Neale yet.
“I can imagine, like most of us or all of us, we’re really disappointed with the outcome of it all,” he said.
“The club will do everything in their best interest to sort of you know take it one step further, I assume.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone from the club about it but I imagine we’ll probably go another step forward and … see what can happen after that.”
Neale’s case tested the AFL’s crackdown on gut punches and whether a player should be granted leniency after 15 AFL seasons without a suspension.
However, former Fremantle captain David Mundy said on Wednesday the tribunal had been right to suspend Neale.
“It’s, obviously, a horrible outcome for Lachie and his prospects this weekend. But I think the AFL has been very clear in its mandate to try and stamp out that sort of action and behaviour,” he said.
“I am very confident we’ll be talking about it again after Thursday night’s appeal [should it go ahead], but I think the messaging from the AFL and his tribunal have been very clear.”
Brisbane Lions have been contacted for comment.
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Hannah Kennelly is an award-winning sports reporter and Formula 1 writer at The Age.Connect via email.