Lachie Neale called out by Nathan Buckley amid worrying AFL form slump
The former Brownlow medallist copped a brutal assessment from Nathan Buckley after a narrow escape against the Dockers.
Brisbane Lions midfielder Lachie Neale copped a brutal serve from former Brownlow medal winner Nathan Buckey mid-way through their narrow AFL escape against Fremantle last weekend, amid a wobbly run of form for some of the top premiership contenders. The Lions were lucky to get away with a three-point win over the Dockers in Perth on Sunday, with Neale again struggling against the defensive work of Fremantle's Hayden Young.
Neale's struggles came a week after he was well-beaten in a head-to-head matchup by Gold Coast rival Touk Miller, who was ultimately suspended in the wake of the Suns' upset victory over the Lions in the Queensland derby. The Lions star admitted he had been somewhat unprepared for the match-up against Miller, and again struggled against Young as the Dockers threatened a second straight upset.
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It comes as fellow top four contenders Collingwood and Port Adelaide battle with consecutive losses, in the Power's case their fourth on the trot after Geelong proved too strong at home on Saturday night. Buckley said Brisbane's premiership aspirations hinged greatly on Neale's ability to continue to impact the contest against a direct opponent.
Young was singled out for praise from Buckley after finishing with 29 possessions and 10 tackles, with the Collingwood great critical of what he deemed to be a distinct lack of effort from Neale in the first half. While the Lions would ultimately go on to recover, Buckley said it was an uncharacteristic effort from Neale.
“I think the Fremantle midfielders have been on top from the start,” he told Fox Footy at half-time. “Most of their midfielders have got big numbers compared to the Lions.
“But it’s the Young-Neale match-up. You see here that Young runs off to try and win this ball ... Lachie Neale has his hands on his hips. This is not what we’ve known of Lachie Neale, but he’s just not working as hard as we know of him.”
Lachie Neale admits difficulty against Hayden Young
Dockers defender Luke Ryan had flagged Fremantle's intent to try and limit Neale in the lead-up to the game last weekend, saying the club had taken cues from Miller's best-on-ground effort against the Lions the week prior. Buckley said Neale wasn't being tagged out of the game by Young, rather the 54-game Docker was challenging him to work harder - and succeeding.
“Young’s role on (Neale) is definitely not a tag. It’s a starting point at stoppage,” he said. “Then Young has been getting after the ball and has been doing that extremely well to have the 15 touches (at halftime) and the impact that he has on the game.
“Young is the one working harder than any other. He’s doing it all. He’s had an exceptional first half.”
Neale said prior to the three-point triumph that he had studied up on a couple of potential match-ups against Fremantle after being beaten handily by Miller the week before. He was expecting either Young or former teammate James Aish to line up against him.
“I watched a fair bit of (Young) on (Patrick Dangerfield) last week,” he said. “I didn’t expect Touk to come to me last week so I learned from that and did my homework. I thought it might be (James) Aish or Young. Youngy is a quality player.
“He’s a lot stronger than I thought and I learned a fair bit from that first quarter. I was pretty poor and felt like I built into that game and my last quarter was probably my best.”
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