Brownlow Medal favourite Lachie Neale escapes suspension over tackle on Sydney’s Nick Blakey
Brisbane Brownlow Medal chance Lachie Neale would have endured a sleepless night on Sunday, waiting to see whether his suspect tackle on Swan Nick Blakey resulted in suspension. The decision has now been made.
Lions
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Lachie Neale’s Brownlow dream lives to fight another day.
Neale’s tackle on Swan Nick Blakey from Sunday night was assessed by match review officer Michael Christian but dismissed as unworthy of any penalty.
Neale has been backed in to $1.25 favouritism for this year’s Brownlow medal, with his chances dashed had he been banned.
But Christian said that the act – in which Neale appeared to drive Blakey, who aggravated his previous shoulder complaint, into the turf – did not meet the threshold for rough conduct.
“Blakey has possession of the ball on the wing and is pursued by Neale and Dayne Zorko,” he said.
“Blakey attempts to kick the football as Zorko lays a lunging tackle, dislodging the football.
“Neale then simultaneously tackles Blakey to ground, who braces for contact using his right arm, causing impact to his shoulder.
“It was the view of the MRO that Neale’s actions did not constitute rough conduct. No further action was taken.”
It was a frustrating night for Neale, who was restricted to 15 disposals by Swans tagger Ryan Clarke, which was his fewest as a Lion and in any game since 2017.
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The rule change came after Hawthorn’s Shaun Burgoyne escaped a ban for dumping Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield and enabled Christian to suspend Western Bulldog Hayden Crozier for a tackle which barely raised an eyebrow and was called play-on by the umpires in Round 5.
Neale drove Blakey’s right shoulder into the Cairns turf after he dropped the ball in the third quarter of the Lions’ win.
Blakey’s head also collided with the grass at Cazaly’s Stadium.
The controlling umpire paid a free kick to Blakey for holding the man because he did not have prior opportunity and was tackled after releasing the ball.
Blakey — who appeared to aggravate the minor shoulder injury he suffered against Carlton last week — was taken from the field for medical treatment.
The 20-year-old was pictured shaking his head on the boundary line although the tackle did not appear malicious.
The Lions have not celebrated a Brownlow Medallist since Simon Black (2002) followed teammate Jason Akermanis (2001) during the club’s golden era.
In other MRO news, Crow Shane McAdam was charged with striking Blue Tom Williamson, with Hawk Blake Hardwick hit with the same charge for striking Bulldogs forward Aaron Naughton.
Both were penalised $750 should they plead guilty.
Western Bulldog Bailey Smith was charged with rough conduct for his dangerous tackle on Hawthorn’s Harry Morrison, which was assessed as careless conduct, low impact and high contact and worthy of a $1000 fine with an early guilty plea.
FAGAN: MIDFIELD NOT A ONE-MAN BAND
Lions coach Chris Fagan is proud to say his midfield group is not just a one-man band.
Brownlow Medal favourite Lachie Neale was well held on Sunday night by Ryan Clarke and the entire Swans midfield but Brisbane found a way to get the job done in wet conditions.
After being limited to just three touches in the first term, Neale eventually racked up 15 possessions but did not have his usual influence on the contest.
The Lions premier midfielder copped some off the ball treatment but Fagan did not think the Swans overstepped the mark.
With Neale held, Fagan was proud of the way Jarrad Lyons, Dayne Zorko, Hugh McCluggage and Cameron Rayner picked up the slack.
The experienced Swans on-ball unit of Luke Parker, Josh Kennedy and Jake Lloyd won the clearance count and Sydney collected more possessions as a side, but it was the Lions forwards who took the game away from the Swans.
“We are certainly not a midfield that relies just on Lachie to play well,” Fagan said.
“We love it when he plays well, but we have shown this year, when he gets stopped, which is not often, we have got other guys that can step up to the mark.
“It is not really about how many clearances Lachie Neale gets, it is about how we go as a team.
“I expect all of them to help each other out from time to time, not just Lachie, it is like all midfields.
“We will go about our midfield, having an even contribution from all players.
“If we are going to rely on Lachie Neale, we are not going to go very far, we need depth in the midfield and to be able to rely on a lot of guys, which we have had all season.”
Speaking post-match on Fox Footy, the Brownlow Medal favourite says he was not sure what attention would come from the Swans on-ballers, but liked the way his teammates carried the load.
“I did not know to expect it or not, we had plans for it if it happens, I had to play a different role,” Neale said.
“I just tried to get on the move at stoppages and create a bit of chaos.
“The other boys were able to get on the move and get the job done.
“The Swans were pretty good in the contest and in the end we were able to break them.”
Sydney coach John Longmire was happy with the way his on-ballers battled, declaring they held their own.
“We thought our midfielders did a reasonable job as they are as good as any midfield going around at the moment,” Longmire said.
“You are talking about a potential Brownlow medallist.”
The Lions now look towards hosting Carlton on their home deck to finish the home-and-away season this coming Saturday evening.
LIONS SURVIVE SLIPPERY RETURN TO CAIRNS
The last time the Brisbane Lions ventured to Cairns, they were on the back end of their greatest dynasty.
As the current crop of Lions are about to burst into their premiership window, it is fitting they would return to the top of Queensland.
In their first appearance in FNQ in over 15 years, the Lions took care of the youthful Sydney Swans on Sunday night at Cazalys Stadium as they build towards a huge finals campaign, in their home state, no less.
In their first ever game for premiership points in Cairns, the Lions weathered an early Swans onslaught and late push again to consolidate their spot in the top two, 11.7 (73) – 6.5 (41).
Brisbane on-baller Jarryd Lyons was superb in the wet and greasy conditions, sneaking forward in the third term to kick a key goal.
After struggling to score for three quarters, the Swans cut the margin to just two points midway through the final term, before Brisbane settled to secure the four points with a quick burst of three goals within five minutes.
BUZZ FOR CHARLIE
Born in Mount Isa and growing up on Mornington Island, Cazalys Stadium is as close as Charlie Cameron will ever get to playing a “home” game in the AFL.
The dynamic goal-kicker requested 50 tickets for the game for all his extended friends and family from around north Queensland.
With the crowd capacity limited to just 4500 to allow for coronavirus restrictions, 50 is a decent number to be cheering for one bloke.
While it was not Cameron’s best night at the office, there was a bit extra from the Cairns crowd whenever he went near the footy.
The All Australian kicked his second goal midway through the final term, Brisbane’s third in row, that stopped the Swans’ final term comeback.
SWANS LACK FORWARD OPTIONS
It was the game style and conditions a Sydney side usually thrive in: tough, contested and wet.
And, their midfield unit did their share of the dirty work, but the Swans could not convert when they did get their chances in attack.
They could only manage six scoring shots across three quarters, despite having more of the footy than their opponents and using it more efficiently in that period.
Losing small forward Lewis Taylor to a foot injury early on did not help either as coach John Longmire would have loved to have the big number 23 out their roaming the forward 50.
They finally found some scoreboard presence in the final term but it was too little too late.
THE LOCK JOB
Short-priced Brownlow Medal favourite Lachie Neale found the going tough for much of the evening in the wet conditions.
Sydney tagger Ryan Clarke did his best to keep the ball magnet in check and Neale went forward in the first term as he was held to just three touches.
The Brisbane prime mover is likely to already have enough votes to collect “Charlie” in a few weeks time, but we should not be expecting to hear his name read out for Round 17 votes.
As Clarke got more and more on top in the second term, Neale’s workrate dropped off.
“It is a real focus as a group to put work into Neale, not just Clarke, but the entire Sydney team,” Lions champion Simon Black said.
Neale worked his way into the game a little more as the game went on, but the Swans did their job to limit one of the premier midfielders in the competition.
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SCOREBOARD
SYDNEY 2.0 2.0 3.3 6.5 (41)
BRISBANE 1.1 3.3 5.4 11.7 (73)
GOALS
Sydney: W Hayward 2, L Parker 2, T Papley 2
Brisbane: C Cameron 2, E. Hipwood 2, Z Bailey 2, D McStay, J Lyons, C Ellis-Yolmen, K Coleman, D Zorko
BEST
Sydney: J Lloyd, J Kennedy, L Parker, R Clarke, C Mills
Brisbane: J Lyons, D Rich, O McInerney, D McStay, H McCluggage
INJURIES
Sydney: L Taylor (foot), J Amartey (ankle)
Brisbane: Nil
UMPIRES
Shaun Ryan, Andre Gianfagna, Andrew Heffernan
JORDAN GERRANS’ VOTES
3 – J Lyons
2 – D Rich
1 – J Lloyd
LONGMIRE: INCONSISTENCY TO BE EXPECTED
With one of the youngest groups in the AFL, Sydney coach John Longmire says inconsistency in performance can be expected.
The Swans barely looked like scoring for three quarters on Sunday night against Brisbane, before banging on three quick goals in the final term to give themselves a chance.
The Lions settled and kicked away eventually, to win by 32 points, but the margin was just two midway through the last quarter in wet conditions.
It was a similar story last round against Carlton, the Swans kicked seven goals to halftime, looking like they had a match winning advantage, before the Blues came storming home to win by less than a kick.
In the second half against Carlton, the Swans could manage just one major.
Longmire was proud of the way his group gave themselves a chance in the final term against Brisbane in Cairns but says a lack of a four-quarter effort this season had been “their story”.
Longmire pointed to winning many of the key indicators, grabbing more ground balls than the Lions, winning the contested ball count and just going down for inside 50s, and being within two points midway through the final term.
“We came into this game with the youngest group for the round and we just keep on learning from opposition quality teams and we learn again tonight,” Longmire said.
“We did a lot right and with 10 minutes to play in the last quarter, if we kicked a goal, that puts us in front, I would have taken that before the game.
“There is a lot that we did right, but they kicked a few easy goals from then on, we took the game on and wanted to win it.
“We had a real crack and sometimes as a young team, you get it wrong, and they were able to kick too many easy goals.
“We have got five players with less than 10 games, we are doing things with our list, we only have one player over 30.
“We are working really hard to get another group together to have a crack, there is always going to be periods of the game when we fluctuate.”
Longmire admitted he did not have many winners in his forward group as they kicked just three goals for three quarters.
After dropping Sunday’s game against the Lions, Sydney now look towards Geelong on the Gold Coast to finish the Home And Away season this coming Sunday afternoon.
Small forward Lewis Taylor will be in some doubt to face the Cats after missing much of Sunday’s game with a foot complaint.
He sat and watched for the final three quarters.
“It was early in the game and he was off in the first quarter and did not come back on,” Longmire said.
Originally published as Brownlow Medal favourite Lachie Neale escapes suspension over tackle on Sydney’s Nick Blakey