South Australian Brisbane Lions player Lachie Neale crowned 2020 Brownlow medallist
Lions player Lachie Neale polled an impressive 31 votes to become the 2020 Brownlow Medallist – great cause for celebration in his tiny hometown Kybybolite, in SA’s South-East.
SA News
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The tiny town of Kybybolite in South Australia’s South-East was rocking on Sunday night after local boy Lachie Neale was crowned king of the AFL.
The 27-year-old South Australian was the runaway winner of the 2020 Charles Brownlow Medal count, polling an impressive 31 votes and finishing 10 votes clear of runner-up, Port Adelaide’s midfield star Travis Boak.
The 177cm Brisbane midfielder – who was once told he was too short to play elite football – polled the maximum three votes in 10 games, becoming the first South Australian since Adam Cooney in 2008 to win the medal.
From a function room at The Gabba, Neale said he was humbled to win the medal.
“A boy from ‘Kyby’, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be standing here,” he said.
“To this day, I absolutely love playing footy and training every week, trying to get better and trying to get the most out of myself and my teammates.”
Neale thanked his Lions coach, Chris Fagan.
“Fags is just such a great man on and off the field, you can go and talk to him about anything. I’ve learnt so much from him.”
Neale first found his love of football in the tiny farming town of “Kyby” – some 300km southeast of Adelaide – where, as a 10-year-old, he would rise at dawn to kick the footy to himself out the back of the farm where he grew up, before playing in the under-14s for the Kybybolite Tigers.
On Sunday night, back in his hometown, about 100 locals watched the Brownlow live-stream from the two-storey Kyby Tigers’ clubrooms. Among them was Andrew Shepherd, Kyby’s under-17s coach, who said the town of 200 people couldn’t be prouder to have produced a Brownlow Medallist.
“We didn’t need the Brownlow to idolise him, we did that already,” he said.
“We won’t party too late, it being Sunday night.”
In a season like no other, the Brownlow count was held virtually, with a selection of players from each club gathered at eight different venues across Australia.
There was no red carpet, no gauntlet of media and photographers to walk past, no packed 1000-seat venue.
At Adelaide Oval, Power captain Tom Jonas and wife Millie brought the cutest of Brownlow accessories – one-month-old baby, Matilda, with Jonas carrying the nappy bag.
Jonas was joined by teammates, including Boak, Ollie Wines and retiring veteran Justin Westhoff, as well as a handful of Crows players, including Rory Sloane and Tom Doedee, and players from other clubs including Melbourne captain Jack Viney and Western Bulldogs defender Caleb Daniel.
Neale left Kyby and moved to Adelaide to attend St Peter’s College from Year 10, also playing for Glenelg.
St Peter’s headmaster, Tim Browning, congratulated the old scholar, who is believed to be the first Brownlow Medallist from the school.
“(The) college is extremely proud of him,” Mr Browning said. “Lachie, who graduated in 2010, was an integral part of the school’s first XVIII and on behalf of the school community, I congratulate him.”
Neale was drafted by Fremantle in 2011 at pick No. 58 overall, and debuted for the Dockers in 2012. He moved to the Lions for the 2019 season.
Originally published as South Australian Brisbane Lions player Lachie Neale crowned 2020 Brownlow medallist