Lions captain’s wife opens up on club’s Las Vegas trip drama

Lifestyle influencer Jules Neale has given an eye-opening look into her marriage with her husband’s AFL club engulfed in scandal.

Lachie Neale of the Lions. Photo by Robert Cianflone/AFL Photos/via Getty Images.

Jules Neale has become the first wife of a Brisbane Lions player to speak publicly after the club’s so-called Las Vegas scandal erupted.

The Lions have been under the pump after losing their first three games of the season, and the pressure escalated again last weekend when it was first reported there had been issues within the dressing room as a result of an off-season holiday to the United States that some players shared together.

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Football club figures have repeatedly denied rumours there is a rift in the dressing room following reports a WhatsApp group chat shared by some players, which detailed what the holidaying group were getting up to in the United States, was seen by one player’s partner.

The Herald Sun reported one of the players accidentally uploaded the group chat to iCloud on his Apple Phone, before it was accessed on a shared device by his partner back home.

The player’s partner is then said to have shared the messages with other partners who became enraged with what was unfolding on the trip in November.

There is no suggestion those players pictured are responsible for any wrongdoing.

Brisbane Lions players on the US trip.

Neale, whose husband is Lions co-captain Lachie Neale, on Sunday described her marriage as “solid”.

Lachie Neale, who is a two-time Brownlow Medal winner, was among the players involved in the off-season trip.

She told The Sunday Mail: “Every relationship has different pressures, it’s important to keep the outside noise out, in any relationship regardless of it being in the public eye, unfortunately, it’s inevitable that people are going to have their own opinion” she said.

“I think Lachie and I have a really solid relationship, which is all that really matters.”

Jules also addressed the team spirit across the Brisbane Lions group of so-called WAGs, describing the group as “close”.

“We all have great relationships, however a lot of people forget that the club is just a fraction of our lives, so we all have great friendships and lives outside of this as well,” she said.

Jules has become a popular figure with Brisbane Lions fans and has amassed a following of 20,000 Instagram followers as a lifestyle influencer, hairstylist and Brownlow Medal red carpet show-stealer.

Her relationship with Neale has been put under the strain of a media storm on several occasions and was rocked in 2021 when she was blamed by some for her husband’s bombshell trade link with a return to Fremantle.

According to reports, the footballer was considering a move back to Western Australia — the home of wife Jules and Neale’s former club Fremantle — as they prepared to welcome first child Piper Rose.

Some aspects of the coverage at the time irked the 30-year-old.

Jules and Lachie Neale at the Brisbane Lions AFL awards night. Photo Steve Pohlner.

Lachie Neale comforted by wife Jules. Photo by Robert Cianflone/AFL Photos/via Getty Images.

“It was disappointing maybe my character and Jules’ character got questioned,” he said.

“I think I got called a manipulator and people were saying I was doing it for money, which certainly wasn‘t the case. If I’d left, I’d probably take less money to go back.

“We had camera people outside our house for three or four days, which was pretty off.

“Jules was getting messages from randoms, which was pretty vile.

“The fact nothing even came of it was the most disappointing thing, that people were trying to attack my character and hers. That was the disappointing part, but I can‘t control that.

“I feel like I’m a pretty loyal person, an honest person.”

Jules’ support of her husband following the club’s controversial grand final loss to Collingwood last year became one of the most iconic images from the day.

Meanwhile, the Lions on Friday night eased the pressure valve somewhat with a convincing win over North Melbourne at Norwood Oval in Adelaide.

It comes after a week when the club repeatedly denied there were issues within the playing group.

Lions board member and three-time premiership coach Leigh Matthews was asked last week if there was any potential rift within the playing group.

The football icon responded: “No. To my knowledge. Apart from this popping up on the weekend. I’m around the club occasionally and I’ve never had any feeling there is any kind of angst among the playing group or disunity or anything like that.

“Everyone I speak to around the club, they say, ‘Absolutely no way there’s any disunity’. It has nothing to do with the fact they’ve lost three games.”