Lachie Neale’s wife has revealed her personal sacrifice brought the Brownlow medallist to the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions Brownlow Medal winner Lachie Neale paid special tribute to his wife Julie while accepting the award, and now she has opened up about how he left his Brisbane move in her hands, and the personal sacrifice she decided to make to support him.
QLD News
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Lachie Neale’s wife has opened up about the personal sacrifice she made to support him when he left the decision to move from Fremantle to Brisbane in her hands.
After the AFL star paid special tribute to his wife while accepting the Brownlow Medal on Sunday, Julie Neale revealed he confided in her about his desire to switch to the Brisbane Lions two years ago, telling her he would stay with the Dockers if she didn’t want to leave her business and family behind.
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The 30-year-old, who has been a hair stylist for 15 years, faced selling her hair salon in Mosman Park, outside Fremantle, which she had owned for three years after spending much of her career building her client base.
“It was a lot of work to build that business up and it was a big thing to leave behind,” she said on Monday.
“I kind of knew (Brisbane) was the right move for Lachie and footy and it was a decision I decided to make myself. He didn’t pressure me. He said ‘We’ll stay here’. He felt Perth was home. He said ‘It is completely up to you’.
“After meeting people in the club (the Lions), I just knew this was where he needed to be. I felt they were going places and we wanted to be a part of that. I felt he knew that.”
She added: “It was almost a harder decision to go. At the beginning, it wasn’t public that we were thinking about (leaving). We copped a bit from upset Fremantle supporters, people saying he left because of me, which wasn’t the case.”
After Lachie announced the switch, stunning the AFL world, at the end of the 2018 season, the couple tied the knot in Perth the following month, and Julie sold her business to move to Brisbane, where she now works at West End salon Mikki Auld Hairdressing.
She was emotional on Sunday night when Lachie paid tribute to her after winning AFL’s biggest individual honour for his stellar second season with the Lions, telling the crowd “she always puts me ahead of herself when she shouldn’t have to” and “she’s the most selfless person I know and my biggest support.”
Julie, who wore a showstopping gown by One Day Bridal, said seeing her husband win the Brownlow Medal, after the Lions’ preliminary final berth on Saturday, helped her know she’d made the right decision.
“That’s why I got so emotional,” she said.
“It’s been a tough year away from family and friends. We left a lot to move here. It was a big decision for us and for me to leave the business I had. I’ve never lived away from my family.”
“The success the team had this year and the Brownlow, it makes it all worth it, to see everything we sacrificed pay off and him achieving his goals.”
“I’m in awe of him.”
The couple spent the rest of Sunday night celebrating with friends, before finally having a moment to themselves.
“It was an awesome moment, like ‘You’ve done it; I can’t believe you’ve done it’. Just the smile on his face,” Julie said, adding that her husband was eager to go out for brunch and have an eggs Benedict after spending six months in the AFL bubble.
The couple, who celebrate their two-year wedding anniversary next month, first met in a nightclub almost a decade ago when Julie was 21 and Lachie was just 18, and she admits she was “not interested at all”.
“He was 18. I was like ‘way too young’. He had a Harry Styles haircut at the time,” she laughed.
“We were both young and had a lot of learning and growing to do. We reconnected in our mid 20s and things were a little different. We moved in together after three months and were engaged nine months after that.”
With neither she or Lachie having family in Brisbane, Julie said the Brisbane Lions club and partners had stepped up to support them, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They are our second family. This year we haven’t been able to have family visit. The Lions are so close as a playing group and club and they are so supportive. People check in all the time and the partners are my best friends. I’ll be friends with them a long time,” she said.
“In Perth I had all my friends and family so I didn’t need it. Here I have needed it and they were there for me.”
