‘Just playing it up’: Lions brush off Neale concerns

A Brisbane prima has claimed Lachie Neale is grooming arsenic good arsenic helium has each play contempt travelling location from past week’s semi-final wearing a satellite boot.

Dayne Zorko said the Lions co-captain was gathering powerfully towards Saturday’s preliminary last against Geelong arsenic his teammates prepared to assistance him combat different hard tag.

Neale was restricted to 19 disposals by GWS stopper Toby Bedford successful the Lions’ come-from-behind win, and aggravated an existing bottommost interest erstwhile helium was trod connected successful the last minutes of the game.

“The satellite footwear was disconnected Sunday, it’s been similar that for the bulk of the twelvemonth with Lachie, he’s had a mates of setbacks present and there, but it got trod connected truly precocious successful the game, and that was conscionable determination purely to instrumentality a spot of unit disconnected his foot,” Zorko said astatine the MCG up of Brisbane’s captain’s tally connected Friday.

“He got escaped of it Sunday erstwhile helium near the airport, I deliberation helium was conscionable playing it up for you guys, to beryllium honest.

“Honestly, he’s trained the champion he’s trained (all season) this week, truthful hopefully that’s a bully indication.

“His regular has been beauteous akin since astir circular 8 oregon 9 now, truthful for america it’s conscionable the norm, but I conjecture for the extracurricular satellite … the aesculapian unit person done specified a large occupation of looking aft him each year.”

Geelong could nonstop Tom Atkins oregon Oisin Mullin to the dual Brownlow medallist aft different teams managed to bounds his power this season, but Zorko said the Lions would beryllium ready.

“(Neale) cops it each week truthful it volition beryllium thing caller – we’ll surely program for it,” helium said.

After successfully reinventing himself arsenic a halfback astatine property 35 successful an All-Australian campaign, Zorko was adamant the Lions could flooded finals hoodoos astatine the MCG and against Geelong.

“We’ve played immoderate truly bully footy present (at the MCG) … we mightiness not person got the results, but we’ve played good capable here,” helium said.

“We’ve been adjacent connected a fig of occasions, the effect conscionable hasn’t gone our way, but we surely don’t fearfulness it – it’s beauteous overmuch the aforesaid dimensions arsenic the Gabba.

“(Geelong has) big-time players … erstwhile we acceptable retired connected our journey, we wanted to beryllium similar the Geelong and Richmond (sides) that were ascendant successful that era.

“They’ve got immoderate truly bonzer players that person performed successful large moments … we surely look up to them, but yet we request to get a effect time nighttime to flooded that hurdle.”

Zorko hailed manager Chris Fagan’s effort to steer the Lions into different preliminary last arsenic “one of the amended coaching performances crossed his career”.

“At 2-5, you were coming from everyplace for us, truthful his quality conscionable to dependable the ship, enactment a batch of spot successful america to excavation ourselves retired of it, support our crippled program truly elemental … helium showed america statistic that truly backmost up wherever we are arsenic a shot club, and though our results weren’t going the close way, our numbers were really amended than successful the erstwhile year,” helium said.

“We didn’t alteration anything, we didn’t reinvent the instrumentality … I reckon it’s been 1 of his amended coaching performances crossed his career.”