Lachie Neale marriage breakup: Brisbane coach Chris Fagan reveals private meetings with AFL star

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan insists Lachie Neale is enjoying his best pre-season in years despite the Lions champion dealing with significant personal issues.

The dual Brownlow medallist relinquished the co-captaincy earlier in January amid a tumultuous and public marriage breakdown.

Neale, one of the greatest players in club history after moving from Fremantle at the end of 2018, will likely return to Western Australia in 2027 to be closer to his two children.

But until then, the 32-year-old will remain a crucial part of Brisbane’s push to claim a third-consecutive premiership this season.

“It hasn’t really affected things too much,” Fagan told SEN on Friday when asked about the intense tabloid interest in Neale’s personal life.

“It’s not like we sit around having meetings with the players and talk about it.

“It’s just been myself, (Lions football boss) Danny (Daly) and Lachie.

“To Lachie’s credit, in terms of the way that he’s training and going about things, he’s having his best pre-season in a long while.

“Normally, he’s finished seasons quite injured and been in rehab, but this year he had no injury at the finish.

“He’s been able to train fully and in the best shape he’s been in for ages in terms of setting himself up for a good football season.

“He’s in a good place at the moment, obviously got a bit going on personally, but he seems to be coping with that pretty well.”

In three seasons as co-captain with Harris Andrews, Neale led the Lions to three grand finals - winning the last two.

Coming towards the end of his career, Neale had already raised the prospect of stepping back as a leader before his marriage breakdown turned into a social media storm.

Talks took place last year about Andrews being the Lions’ sole captain.

But due to the success the Lions have had with co-captains - Dayne Zorko was skipper for five seasons before 2023 - Fagan is superstitious about changing that.

A player vote will take place in February that will help shape Brisbane’s captaincy system for 2026.

“Harris Andrews could easily be captain on his own,” Fagan said.

“I am not a fan of the two-captain model but since we have had it, we have been successful.

“I don’t know if I want one or two.

“If it’s two, then you look at Hugh McCluggage and Josh Dunkley and it’s hard to split those two blokes.”

The Lions have taken a similar approach to when they broke through to win the 2024 premiership in a bid to stay at the top - humility in success.

“Straight away after the grand final, we talked about it - we can only be our own worst enemies if we get too carried away with ourselves and we don’t stay humble,” Fagan said.

“It’s a regular topic of conversation.

“The boys know what that behaviour looks like, and we encourage them to call it out if they see it.

“We certainly do if we do.

“But to be fair, I haven’t seen any of that to this point in time.

“We turned up in great shape and attitude at training has been terrific.”

The Lions will unfurl their premiership flag when they host the Western Bulldogs at the Gabba in Opening Round on March 7.