AFL Grand Final 2025: Brisbane Lions claim back-to-back flags
The Lions have gone back-to-back! A second half onslaught from Brisbane was too much for Geelong, with Chris Fagan’s decision to make Lachie Neale the sub set to go down in history.
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan says the agonising decision to confine champion midfielder Lachie Neale to the sub role kept him awake on Friday night before his decision was vindicated in stunning fashion.
With the scores locked at halftime, the Lions pulled the trigger on a tactical substitution that unleashed their co-captain into the game before he helped orchestrate a second-half onslaught.
Returning from his calf injury, Neale only had two disposals to his name after 10 minutes on the ground but finished the game with 17 disposals, seven clearances and one of the best goals of his career.
“I was lying in bed last night thinking: ‘I’m either going to look like a total idiot or a total genius’ after today’s game,” Fagan said.
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“I mean, if we had lost and he’d only played a half, we’d probably be bemoaning the fact we went about it that way.
“The bottom line was this: Lachie was fit to play. But how much game time could he play? Because basically, he’d played one game in 56 days, and coming into a grand final, I was a little bit worried about his ability to see the whole game out if he had to actually start.
“I was pretty grateful that we were equal (at halftime), and I thought he could come on and bring great energy in the second half, which is what he did.
“It was a bit of a bold plan, and it’s come off, but it might not have, too.”
The dual premiership coach said the nature of Brisbane’s “comprehensive” qualifying final loss to Geelong had left him fearing his side had run out of petrol after a gruelling home and away season as well as the injuries to Neale and Eric Hipwood (knee).
“I was a bit worried about it after we lost to Geelong in that first final, to be honest,” he said.
“It was a comprehensive beating we received, but it seemed to wake us up. We responded really well, and probably the last three weeks we’ve played the best footy that we’ve played all year.
“I was just worried too, with the toughness of our draw, which there clearly was … the last six weeks, it felt like we’d played a final every week, and I just didn’t know how much longer the boys could keep going.
“I was even a little bit worried today that we might have run our race coming into this game, but it wasn’t the case – they’re just an amazing group who keep on keeping on.”
Fagan paid tribute to the Lions’ leadership group and the players sidelined by injury over either of the last two grand finals.
A broad smile came across his face when he was asked about watching Oscar McInerney receive his premiership medal after missing out on the 2024 triumph with a shoulder injury.
“(It means) a lot, and Darcy Gardiner as well. It would’ve been nice if Kiddy Coleman and Linc McCarthy could have been around as well – they’ve missed out on a lot of footy due to ACL injuries,” Fagan said.
“We spoke about it – the fact we had two blokes in there who didn’t get a medallion last year, who could’ve been in the team, and ‘let’s try and do it for them’.
“We had another hero this year who didn’t play in Jarrod Berry – because he selflessly admitted at training the other day that even though he thought he might be able to play, he was pretty anxious about letting the team down, so in the end made the call not to play.
“Brotherhood is a big thing in our club. A lot of the boys have moved away from home to come and play footy up here, so it’s a really close group of people, and Jarrod Berry is probably the driver of that, probably has been even when he was only a first or second-year player.
“We were sad for him today that he couldn’t play, but we had his jumper hanging up on the doors as we went out, and everyone touched it. There was a bit of ‘doing it for Bez’ … I’m so glad he got a flag last year, but for Oscar (McInerney) and Darcy Gardiner – brilliant.”
Neale was summoned into Chris Fagan’s office on Monday and handed a proposition that would turn into a coaching masterstroke.
“He raised it with me on Monday,” Neale said.
“We sat in his office and he said — and I am sorry for the language — “I feel like a bit of a dickhead. But how would you feel being the sub”.
The risky move will go down in coaching folklore given the Grand Final could easily have been over by the time it came to pull the trigger on getting Neale into the game.
“We both agreed it was not a bad way to go about it, not having played much footy the last eight weeks,” Neale said.
“I was confident in the calf, it was just running out the game full stop. It looks like a masterstroke now but I was bloody nervous at half time. I didn’t know how I would go but I am glad I made an impact. I didn’t feel like it was a risk at all. I know, I understand why that’s said during the week, but I didn’t think it was a risk.
“I felt (the calf) jumping around more since we finished, and it’s cooled down a little bit, but I honestly didn’t feel it once there in the second half.
“I had a lot of great people around me who told me to delete all the apps off my phone which I did and I just honed in on my rehab and training. Maybe half way through the week leading into the prelim (I believed I would play) and then once I did that Saturday session the day of the Collingwood game I thought I would play.”
Neale might one day look back on this moment and realise how incredibly lucky he was to recover from a 4-6 week injury in 22 days after 60 hours in the hyperbaric chamber in 150-minute stints.
But he preferred to reflect on the hardships this side had encountered on its way to another premiership won playing in four finals and 27 total games.
“I am just so proud of the group. We had a bloody had draw and we had injuries left, right and centre. We had Jack Payne and Jarrod Berry go down and Noah Answerth, guys like Lincoln McCarthy and Kiddy Coleman. Fages says it best. He says we are cockroaches. You can’t kill us.”
Originally published as AFL Grand Final 2025: Brisbane Lions claim back-to-back flags
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