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'No words': AFL player apologises after costing punter $20,000

Chris Young
·Sports Reporter
·3-min read
Lachie Neale of the Lions is pictured before the round four match against the Adelaide Crows.
Lachie Neale of the Lions booted 0.6 in front of goal last round, costing one unlucky punter a $20,000 payout. (Photo by Jono Searle/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )

Brisbane Lions star Lachie Neale has taken to Twitter to apologise to AFL fans after his wayward goalkicking last weekend wound up costing punters thousands of dollars.

Midfielder Lachie Neale, now in his second season with the Queensland club, was one of many Lions to have trouble getting the ball between the two big sticks, somehow managing to go 0.6 with his shots on goal.

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He wasn’t the only culprit - as a team, the Lions were dreadfully inaccurate, booting 10 goals and 23 behinds.

Unfortunately for Neale though, the star midfielder has copped a few online barbs after several punters loaded up multi bets predicting he’d kick at least one goal for the game - a failure which has supposedly cost one bettor $20,000.

“According to my Twitter feed, a fair few had me for a goal in their multi,” Neale wrote on Twitter.

“Apologies, I owe you all a beer.”

The fun really kicked off in the replies to Neale’s tweet, with one user sharing a TikTok video that showed his $20,000 near miss.

“Cheers Lachie, so close to $20,000,” TikTok user Moth Fiend added alongside his video.

“This is absolutely extraordinary. I have no words,” Facebook user Daniel Angelkovski wrote.

Some felt the punter was hard done by as Neale’s haul of six behinds added up to one goal - but the rules unfortunately do not seem to work that way.

There were plenty of similar stories elsewhere in the replies too, but Neale’s inaccuracy simply goes to show the old adage is true - a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush.

Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns prepare for road life

Gold Coast and Brisbane (both 3-1) have taken full advantage of the south-east Queensland hub to respectively sit second and third on the ladder after round four.

But their 2020 campaign will become significantly tougher following new Queensland government health protocols in response to Victorian COVID-19 cases rising at alarming levels.

From this week, all Queensland sporting teams must self-isolate for 14 days if they play a Melbourne team, play a match in Victoria, or face a team that has been in Victoria during the previous two weeks.

Despite Monday's ruling, the Suns' round-five trip to play Geelong at GMHBA Stadium this Saturday is set to go ahead.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan said the Suns would then be likely to go into quarantine or fly to another state after playing Hawthorn at the MCG in round six in order to comply with the new regulations.