Tess Crosley fires back at question after being thrust into centre of Lachie, Jules Neale split

Tess Crosley has hit back at a critic on her husband Ben's Instagram page, marking one of her first public interactions since the fallout of Lachie and Jules Neale's split.

The mum-of-one, 30, has remained quiet since being thrust into the centre of an alleged scandal involving AFL star Lachie, 32, whose wife Jules ended their marriage over a "betrayal" and seemingly pointed the blame at a close friend.

Tess – who is married to Lachie's friend Ben – has yet to publicly address the alleged affair or her current relationship status. However, she broke her silence this week to shut down a follower's intrusive question on Ben's latest Instagram post.

Underneath pictures Ben posted with his mates on a golf course, Tess commented an emoji of an Italian hand gesture, also known as a chef's kiss emoji.

The emoji or gesture is usually used to express, "What do you want" in Italian culture, while it can also be used to add a dramatic weight to someone's sentence.

A fan took it upon themselves to reply to her comment, asking: "Did he forgive you? I'm confused, no offence," to which Tess offered a blunt reply.

"Don't think that's any of your business," she quipped back.

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Interestingly, Ben has also liked her most recent Instagram photo.

Jules and Lachie's split first hit headlines in December, after Jules publicly claimed that she had been "betrayed" after rumours circulated that she and Lachie were working through relationship issues.

"I want to make it very clear that I am not 'working through' anything," Jules said.

"I have been betrayed in the most unimaginable way. All I can do now is to to heal and do what's best for my children."

Within days of the statement, Jules added fuel to speculation about what caused the split when she commented on a now-deleted post on former friend Tess' Instagram page.

"Take these down, you idiot, you're embarrassing yourself," Neale wrote under photos that showed her former best friend celebrating Lachie Neale's Brisbane Lions AFL Grand Final last September.

The images showed Tess, her husband Ben and the Neales on the field.

Tess' knee seemed to be touching Lachie Neale, while their respective spouses stood to the other side.

The two couples were reportedly firm friends and often appeared on each other's social media accounts.

The ladies have since unfollowed each other and removed all traces of each other from their social media pages.

There has been no confirmation anything untoward happened between Tess and Lachie.

Jules has since moved back to Perth with their children, Piper, four, and Freddie, one.

The post led to Lachie stepping down from his position as co-captain of the Lions in January.

Lachie confirmed the separation while addressing the media that same month.

During the press conference, Lachie apologised publicly without any explicit confirmation of anything untoward.

"While I won't go into specifics I can say that I have let my family down, and I apologise for my actions which have hurt those closest to me," he said.

"For that, I am deeply sorry."

Lachie added that he had to "accept" the consequences of his actions, but was focused on rebuilding trust with Neale because the well-being of their children remained their biggest priority.

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