Lachie Neale calls out 'selfish' act after Brisbane's brutal AFL loss to Carlton

Brisbane superstar Lachie Neale has admitted his team were 'selfish' in their round one capitulation when Carlton kicked eight straight goals to overturn a 46-point deficit. The Lions had won 14-straight games at home heading into round one of the 2024 AFL season, but the run ended after a second-half capitulation saw Carlton storm.

The Lions entered the season with strong ambitions having come so close before losing the AFL grand final last year, but the loss was a setback at home against another title contender. Unfortunately, the loss was made worse when teammate Keidean Coleman left the field with an ACL injury.

And Neale has slammed himself and his teammates for a lack of attitude in the first game after admitting complacency took over. "A little bit of selfishness," Neale said.

"We probably thought the scoreboard was ticking along alright so maybe that intensity dropped away a little bit. We chose some easy options, a little bit lazy on defence sometimes. We didn't dig in, and basically you're s***ting on your teammates when you don't do that.

"Maybe guys bought into how good we are and how well we're going (after two pre-season wins). We certainly know we're not ahead of the rest and still chasing. We haven't achieved anything yet; we want to be the hunters."

The Lions were let down from some poor kicking in the loss, which saw Charlie Cameron miss a set shot from directly in front. Joe Daniher also looked for long-kick at goal when he had options in front of him in a strong position.

And Neale believes the team need to back themselves more if they are to earn their first win of the season when the Lions travel to Fremantle this weekend. "Some guys were probably doubting their skills," Neale said. "We spoke about it last year; we don't want to be that team that goes back into their shells."

Keidean Coleman injury a huge blow for Lions

The Lions were dealt a huge-blow when Coleman went off the field just before half-time with an apparent knee injury. The Lions later confirmed Coleman would miss the remainder of the season with an ACL injury.

Neale admitted losing Coleman was a 'huge loss' for the team with the star already showing his quality in the first-half. "Our most damaging user off half back, such a crucial cog in our team," Neale said of the injury.

RELATED:

• Eddie McGuire ignored as AFL makes call on changing Brownlow Medal system

• Daicos and De Goey called out as Collingwood efforts exposed in AFL loss

Neale was involved in his own incident during the loss to Calton when George Hewett appeared to strike him in the neck and jaw region during a scuffle, before the Lions star hit back with a strike to the stomach. Hewett was fined for the incident - so was Neale - but the Lions star did not believe there was much in it.

"I don't really know what that deserved," Neale said. "I know he didn't mean to hit me in the head, but his got graded careless and mine intentional, which is quite strange.

"They both looked pretty similar in my eyes. I feel I probably didn't deserve a fine, so we might fight that and see how it goes. If the umpire paid a free kick (for high contact) I might not have retaliated."

Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.