Lachie Neale says heel injury ongoing issue as he pledges to be fit for Geelong preliminary AFL final
Brisbane star Lachie Neale insists he will be fit to take on Geelong in the preliminary final on Saturday despite sporting a moonboot as he battles an ongoing heel injury.
Neale revealed on Monday he had been troubled by the issue for more than two months but it would not affect his ability to take the field as the Lions vie to make their second grand final in as many years.
He was in obvious discomfort during the final minutes of the Lions’ remarkable semifinal victory over GWS in Sydney on Saturday. “Certainly not in any doubt, but probably over the last 8-10 weeks I have had a fairly significant issue with my heel but on game day it feels 100 per cent most of the time,” he told SEN on Monday.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“It was probably the first game where it flared up a bit (against GWS). Obviously, take some painkilling stuff to help that and it must have worn off a bit and I must have moved in a different way and it was grabbing a bit more than usual.
“I don’t do much (training) early in the week and Thursdays if you watch training you probably think I am not going to play, that is how badly I have been moving. But game day I feel 100 per cent. (I will) definitely play but carrying a bit of foot and heel soreness at the moment.”
Neale was restricted to just 19 touches by GWS master tagger Tony Bedford as the Lions surged back from a 44-point deficit to stun the Giants, and the AFL world, 105-100.
“We got on a roll pretty quickly and kicked a few goals which gave us a bit of hope,” Neale said. “We went in at three-quarter time believing we could run over the top of them.
“It was a great win and for 24 hours you can think ‘how good’s that?’ But we weren’t anywhere near our best, guys including myself weren’t anywhere near our best.
“If we play like we did in patches, we are going to get rolled in a prelim, which we don’t want to do.”
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan said he had full faith his star midfielder and Brownlow favourite to back up from one of greatest wins in club history.
“He’s had a bit of a sore foot for quite a few weeks now, so his training has been modified,” Fagan said.
“If you come down and watch us train, you probably won’t see him on a Tuesday. You’ll see him on a Thursday and he’ll look not very good,” he said.
“Then by the time we get to a game, he’s good to go. He’s tough.”
