How ‘little fella’ from Kybybolite Lachie Neale became the Lions’ new king
Lachie Neale has come a long way from his days playing junior footy in SA’s South-East where he was told he was too short to make it to the elite level, to being a leading Brownlow hope.
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THERE’S no denying that 6am is early, even when you’re 10. But that never bothered Lachie Neale. Come game days, he was too excited to sleep any longer and he’d be out the back of the cropping and livestock farm where he grew up some 300km southeast of Adelaide, kicking the footy to himself before he hit the oval with his mates, playing under-14s footy for the Kybybolite Tigers.
“I used to love it, I’d be up at 6am every morning it was game day, I was so excited,” he recalls. “I remember the cold, frosty mornings in the winter, but it didn’t stop us, we were all excited to be out there together.”
He doesn’t need to worry about those frosty mornings anymore now that he’s in Queensland after seven years of playing AFL in Western Australia.
Reportedly on a five-year, $4 million deal at the Brisbane Lions — making him the highest-paid player at the club — the 177cm 25-year-old has come a long way from his days playing junior footy with “Kyby” in SA’s southeast, being told he was too short to make it to elite-level footy.
Neale’s junior coach Jamie Kelly — who coached him as a 10-year-old in the under-14s — remembers a “tiny” kid who always had a football in hand to go along with his huge competitive streak.
“He’d look in the mirror and he saw an Alsatian, but really he was a Jack Russell,” Kelly says. “One thing that really sticks in my mind is how competitive he was. He was tiny and he would get so frustrated he would cry. He wasn’t a sook, just so frustrated because he was so competitive. And his ability to win the ball was obvious even in those days.”
At age 14, Neale headed to St Peter’s College and he boarded from Year 10 (his favourite subject, apart from PE was creative writing) and he continued to hone his football skills — and enjoyed a growth spurt too.
Speak to anyone who knew Neale at the time and they’ll tell you the same yarn: of when he racked up huge numbers in Glenelg’s under-18 SANFL grand final loss in 2011.
Kelly was among those who watched as Neale dominated.
“I was sitting with an AFL recruiter … he got in excess of 40 touches that day and was getting heavily tagged, and this AFL guy said: ‘Nuh, he’s too small’. But in the last five years that’s really changed because there are a few little fellas that are just blitzing and I think they’re realising now that it’s not just about (height).”
Neale is among those “little fellas” blitzing the AFL.
President of Kybybolite Football Club Jamie Tidy remembers Neale, not as a star junior but the hardest working.
“Lachie has a heart bigger than Phar Lap,” he says, “and is very, very determined.”
Tidy played alongside Neale, about a decade ago in what would eventually be Neale’s last game for the Kyby Tigers.
“We kicked 10 goals in the last quarter against Lucindale at Lucindale to win by a few points,” Tidy says.
“In the last quarter Lachie’s contribution was massive, winning the ball everywhere and kicking a ripping goal from outside-50 on the run right in front of the ‘Bay 13’ bar area.
“His goal may have been the sealer and at that moment we all realised Lachie had come a long way since his junior days and we would most likely never see him play in a Kyby guernsey again.”
After being drafted at pick 54 by Fremantle in 2011 and spending seven successful seasons in the West, Neale is enjoying another standout year after being traded — at his request — to Brisbane, the former easybeats of the AFL. Not any more.
Last season, the Lions won five games. So far this year, they’re already at a 5-3 win-loss ratio and the two-time Fremantle best and fairest (and one-time runner-up), is being credited as part of that resurgence.
Considering he’s always racked up possessions, Kelly says perhaps what is making Neale stand out this year is the fact he is out of Docker Nat Fyfe’s shadow.
Ladbrokes currently has Neale third for the Brownlow at $6.50, behind Fyfe ($5.50) and Carlton’s Patrick Cripps ($3.50).
Life’s pretty good up north for Neale: he got married in off-season, has found a group of Lions who love golf as much as he does and he plays with them every Wednesday to lower his handicap of 12, and goes to extreme lengths for the club’s hilarious “Fashion Fridays”.
He is also developing his coaching aspirations and enjoying the mentorship of new coach Chris Fagan.
Neale doesn’t detail reasons for leaving Fremantle, but is clear in why he chose Brisbane.
“It’s a great opportunity for me to express my ability and leadership qualities here,” he says. “I think I fit the bill of what Brissy really required and me leaving Fremantle gave them a good opportunity to fill their needs as well … although it was a really hard decision, in the end it will turn out to be a really good trade for both sides.”
Neale still chats to former coach Ross Lyon and reveals they were talking only a week ago in the lead up to Brisbane playing Fremantle on May 26.
“He said to me: ‘If you keep this up, I’m going to have to bring in Bailey Banfield to tag you’. We had a bit of a laugh, a bit of tongue-in-cheek but I don’t think they’ve tagged much this year, so I should be all right.”
But first he has to tackle the Crows.
On Saturday afternoon his fifth-placed Brisbane takes on third-placed Adelaide with both clubs locked on five wins, Adelaide superior on percentage.
And you can be sure that when Neale runs out onto the Gabba, he’ll be bringing with him every bit of that work ethic and football nous that he learnt during his childhood kicking footballs early in the morning in SA’s farming heartland.
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