Brisbane Lions star Lachie Neale expected to be tagged by St Kilda’s Marcus Windhager

Having had success in nullifying Touk Miller and Harley Reid in the past two weeks, St Kilda’s Marcus Windhager’s next target is set to be a Lions star.

Lions star Lachie Neale is set to receive some extra attention on Friday night. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Brisbane is bracing for star midfielder Lachie Neale to be targeted by St Kilda tagger Marcus Windhager, who can claim a third big-name scalp in three weeks on Friday night.

The Saints will chase a hat-trick of wins when they visit the Gabba, with Windhager’s tagging expertise again set to be key to his side’s hopes after his success in stifling Gold Coast’s Touk Miller and West Coast’s Harley Reid in the past two weeks.

“I think it gives Windhager a real focus and then he still gets the same amount of ball he would get if he was just running around,” Saints coach Ross Lyon said after his team’s three-point win over the Suns last Saturday.

Lions coach Chris Fagan backed two-time Brownlow medallist Neale to deal with the tag.

“Lachie gets attention most weeks – it’s nothing new for us,” Fagan said.

“We expect someone like a Windhager will come to him. He did a good job last week on Touk Miller, and he went to Harley Reid in the second half the previous week.”

St Kilda’s Marcus Windhager (left) grabs a hold of West Coast’s Harley Reid. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Fagan said Neale had got “better and better” shaking off a tag.

“Obviously, it’s a bit confronting when it first starts to happen to you but once it becomes a regular occurrence, you have strategies to overcome that,” he said.

“The important part about it when someone’s getting tagged is that they continue to play well with for the team. Lachie’s always got his head around that.

“There’s always a small focus on trying to make sure that we give that person a little bit of help. That’s just all part of being a good team.”

A win on Friday night would secure the 13th-placed Lions back-to-back wins for only the second time this season and move them six points clear of the Saints.

“I don’t even think about runs of wins, I’m just trying to think about the next game,” Fagan said.

“We just want to try to do the best we can in every game that we’re playing. Hopefully, when we get to the end of the year, we look up and we’re somewhere in the finals, but that’s a long way off.

“We haven’t been able to string wins together all that well this year, so we’re very much in that one-week-at-a-time mode and I can’t see us changing from that.

“Hopefully, we turn up with the right attitude and the right amount of effort because we need to because they’re a well-coached, hardworking team, so we don’t take anything for granted.”