AFL appeals board live: Lions on edge as ‘pretty brave’ Neale argument flamed
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Neale is free to play
It has taken two and a half hours and the decision is in. OH MY GOSH!
Lachie Neale has been cleared to play in the 2026 grand final.
Decision is being revealed
It hasn’t even been 20 minutes and we are back.
No time has been wasted. Here we go.
WATCH: The moment that put Neale in hot water
In case it has been some time since you sat down and watched exactly what happened between Lachie Neale and Jack Ginnivan on the field, you can watch how it unfolded below.
Neale still expected to be named by Lions
The squad lists for the 2026 grand final will be named in just over 15 minutes.
Lachie Neale is expected to be named by the Brisbane Lions. He will be removed if he is unsuccessful at the end of this hearing.
The submission are closed
Big round of applause to Woods for doing exactly as he said he would and wrapping up his argument in less than 45 minutes.
No further questions have been taken by the panel and we are now off to deliberate.
It took over two hours last time to reach a decision. Are we in for another marathon deliberation?
Not looking good for Neale
We are nearing close to the two-hour mark and things are not looking great for Lachie Neale.
The AFL has dismissed every argument the Neale camp made with ease. They have even used Anderson’s original argument against him.
Not sure how the Lions are going to come back from this, but the hearing is not over yet! The Lions could have something cooking.
Woods debunks arguments from Neale camp
I’m not a lawyer, nor have I ever been to law school, but the Lions representative is seemingly being beaten by the AFL’s representative right now.
The rules have been read out clearly by Woods to all on the video call. It has even been noted that this exact process happened for Neale at the tribunal on Tuesday.
Woods has argued that the Neale camp is simply relying on minor details from the tribunal’s comments on Tuesday to push through this hearing.
Woods has again reminded Neale’s camp that the sporting tribunal will always take “everything that it needs to” into account when deciding on sanctions.
Rules are rules, Woods KC says
Andrew Woods KC is making sure everyone knows that rules are rules.
“The simple fact is that every suspension costs the next match,” he said.
“For a player suspended in the grand final, the next match is the grand final.”
I think everyone is now simply confused by what Brisbane was trying to argue earlier.
AFL moves quick to reject Neale’s defence
Woods has kicked things off perfectly and confronted the elephant in the room – did anyone mention that Lachie Neale would miss a grand final.
“One simple fundamental problem with that is that it did so twice, explicitly,” he has told the appeal board.
“It can’t be an unfair or arbitrary system where we start treating Gather Round different from round one or the grand final.”
Woods has made clear that in no way would the tribunal not have considered Neale missing the grand final, even if they did not say the word grand final.
He then repeated that Anderson recognised he was not asking for Neale to be treated differently because of the importance of the match -– even though most of his case was based around why no one considered how big this game is.
“He can’t have it both ways,” Woods said.
“Frankly, it’s a pretty brave submission,” he added of the Lions argument..
AFL is up to state their case
Anderson has taken a seat and it is now time for the AFL to begin their case.
We heard a lot of talk about why did no one think about Neale missing a grand final, did anyone even consider at the tribunal he would miss the grand final?
The Lions also went through a piece of vision. The case is all there for the board.
Andrew Woods KC has declared he will aim to get his point across in less than 45 minutes. Anderson did it in about an hour and a half.
I’m not a lawyer, but I am here for those subtle jabs.
Start the timer. Can Woods get this done in 45 minutes?
